Trump Impeached for Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress
Voting nearly along party lines, the House approved two articles of impeachment against President Trump, making him the third president in history to face removal by the Senate.
President Trump leaving the Oval Office on Wednesday for a campaign event in Michigan as the House was debating his impeachment.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
By
Nicholas Fandos and
Michael D. Shear
- Dec. 18, 2019Updated 8:59 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Wednesday impeached President Trump for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power, making him the third president in history to be charged with committing high crimes and misdemeanors and face removal by the Senate.
On a day of constitutional consequence and raging partisan tension, the votes on the two articles of impeachment fell largely along party lines, after a bitter debate that reflected the deep polarization gripping American politics in the Trump era.
All but two Democrats supported the article on abuse of power, which accused Mr. Trump of corruptly using the levers of government to solicit election assistance from Ukraine in the form of investigations to discredit his Democratic political rivals. Republicans were united in opposition. It passed 230-197, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi gaveling the vote to a close from the House rostrum.
How Democrats and Republicans Voted on Trump’s Impeachment
See how each House member will vote on the articles of impeachment against President Trump.
The impeachment votes set the stage for a historic trial beginning early next year in the Senate, which will have final say — 10 months before Mr. Trump faces re-election — on whether to acquit the 45th president or convict and remove him from office.
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Acquittal in the Republican-controlled chamber is likely, but the proceeding is certain to aggravate the political and cultural fault lines in the country that Mr. Trump’s presidency brought into dramatic relief.
On Wednesday, Democrats characterized his impeachment as an urgent action to stop a corrupt president whose misdeeds had unfolded in plain view from damaging the country any further.
“Over the course of the last three months, we have found incontrovertible evidence that President Trump abused his power by pressuring the newly elected president of Ukraine to announce an investigation into President Trump’s political rival,” said Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and the Intelligence Committee chairman, who led the impeachment inquiry.
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“The president and his men plot on,” Mr. Schiff said. “The danger persists. The risk is real. Our democracy is at peril.”
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House Votes to Impeach Trump
The Democratic-led House of Representatives charged President Trump with abuse of power.
“The question now occurs on the adoption of Article 1. All in favor, say aye.” “Aye!” “Opposed, no.” “No!” “The ayes have it.” “Gentleman from Georgia.” Madam speaker, the eyes and nays on that vote yays and nays members will record their votes by electronic device on this, though the yays are 230 the nays are 197. “Present is one article one is adopted.
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0:48
0:48House Votes to Impeach Trump
The Democratic-led House of Representatives charged President Trump with abuse of power.CreditCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times
Far from showing contrition or contemplating resignation, as his predecessors have done in the face of impeachment, Mr. Trump instead offered an indignant defense as the House weighed his fate, raging on Twitter from the White House.
“SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS,”
the president wrote as the historic debate took place on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. “THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!”
Regardless of the outcome of a Senate trial, the impeachment vote in the House puts an indelible stain on Mr. Trump’s presidency that cannot be wiped from the public consciousness with a barrage of tweets or an angry tirade in front of thousands of his cheering supporters at a campaign rally.
The House has impeached Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, sending the case to Senate for trial.
See more updates on the impeachment inquiry
When Congress found out about the scheme and sought to investigate, the president ordered his administration to defy its every request, leading to what the House said Tuesday was a violation of the separation of powers and a de facto assertion by Mr. Trump that he was above the law.
United in their opposition, Republicans accused the Democrats, who fought their way back from political oblivion in 2016 to win the House in 2018, of misusing the power voters had invested in them to harangue a president they never viewed as legitimate by manufacturing a case against him. Though they conceded few of them, they insisted the facts against Mr. Trump nonetheless fell woefully short of impeachment.
“When all is said and done, when the history of this impeachment is written, it will be said that my Washington Democrat friends couldn’t bring themselves to work with Donald Trump, so they consoled themselves instead by silencing the will of those who did, the American people,” said Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina.
Through the course of the inquiry, even as Republicans raged against the process and sought to offer benign explanations for Mr. Trump’s conduct, none disputed the central facts that served as its basis: that he asked Ukraine’s president to “do us a favor” and investigate Mr. Biden, a prospective rival in the 2020 campaign, and other Democrats.
Mr. Trump’s impeachment had the potential to change the trajectory of his presidency and redefine an already volatile political landscape. Democrats, including the most vulnerable moderates, embraced the articles of impeachment with the full knowledge that doing so could damage them politically, potentially even costing them control of the House.
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The only Democratic dissenters from the abuse of power charge on Wednesday were Representatives Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, a freshman who has announced that he will switch parties and become a Republican. Representative Jared Golden of Maine, another centrist freshman, joined them in opposition to the obstruction of Congress charge.
And Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Democratic presidential contender who has built her reputation as a maverick in her party, voted “present” on both articles.
Republicans tethered themselves closely to Mr. Trump as they have since he took office, yoking their political brands and fortunes to his.
The debate proceeded in historic terms in the well of the House, even as an odd sense of inevitability hung over Washington about Mr. Trump’s fate.
“Today, as speaker of the House, I solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the president of the United States,” Ms. Pelosi, dressed in all black, said as debate opened on the articles around noon. “If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty. It is tragic that the president’s reckless actions make impeachment necessary. He gave us no choice.”
In the Senate, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, has already made clear he views the House’s case as “weak” and would prefer a speedy trial in January that does not call any additional fact witnesses. Doing so increases the likelihood that Congress will simply never hear from several senior government officials with knowledge of the Ukraine matter who avoided House testimony.
@npfandos
Michael D. Shear is a White House correspondent. He previously worked at The Washington Post and was a member of their Pulitzer Prize-winning team that covered the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007.
@shearm
A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 19, 2019 of the New York edition with the headline: HOUSE GRINDS ON AS DEBATE RAGES ON IMPEACHMENT.
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- What to Expect Today
- What time will everything start? How long will it last?
Debate should start on the House floor around 9 a.m. and will probably last all day, ahead of a likely vote in the early evening.
- What will it look like?
Tomorrow will probably be a mix of decorum and chaos, fiery speeches and sober appeals. Once it’s time for the vote, the House will handle the two articles of impeachment separately, in close succession, and then adopt a procedural measure to lay out what comes next. That will involve the appointment of impeachment managers and the transmission of the articles to the Senate.
- How heavy-handed will Democrats be?
The debate and the vote will expose what might not be the most savory aspect of Congress: The majority rules, and it rules completely. Republicans can protest and argue as much as they want. But Democrats set the rules. The House, a majoritarian institution, is tasked with presenting the charges to the Senate, which is supposed to be a less partisan, more balanced arbiter.
- Does today signal the end of the impeachment case for House Democrats?
The House will follow the case to the Senate and form the prosecution, meaning a small appointed group of House members and their lawyers will trek over to that side of the Capitol and make the case for impeachment. They might make a push to get new evidence presented in the Senate trial. That is kind of their final venue for the work that they have been doing over the past three months.
- Common Questions About Impeachment
- What is impeachment?
Impeachment is charging a holder of public office with misconduct.
- What did the President say to the president of Ukraine?
Here is a reconstructed transcript of Mr. Trump’s call to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, released by The White House.
- What is the impeachment process like?
Here are answers to seven key questions about the process.
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Trump Impeachment Inquiry
