WASHINGTON, DC – UPDATE 7:55 P.M.:
President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday night, becoming only the third American chief executive to be formally charged under the Constitution’s ultimate remedy for high crimes and misdemeanors.
The historic vote split along party lines, much the way it has divided the nation, over the charges that the 45th president abused the power of his office by enlisting a foreign government to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election. Th House then approved a second charge, that he obstructed Congress in its investigation.
The articles of impeachment, the political equivalent of an indictment, now go to the Senate for trial. If Trump is acquitted by the Republican-led chamber, as expected, he would have to run for reelection carrying the enduring mark of impeachment on his purposely disruptive presidency.
Democrats led Wednesday night’s voting, framed in what many said was their duty to protect the Constitution and uphold the nation’s system of checks and balances. Republicans stood by their party’s leader, who has frequently tested the bounds of civic norms. Trump called the whole affair a “witch hunt,” a “hoax” and a “sham,” and sometimes all three.
The trial is expected to begin in January in the Senate, where a vote of two-thirds is necessary for conviction. While Democrats had the majority in the House to impeach Trump, Republicans control the Senate and few if any are expected to diverge from plans to acquit the president ahead of early state election-year primary voting.
Pelosi, once reluctant to lead Democrats into a partisan impeachment, now risks her majority and speakership to hold the president accountable.
"Today we are here to defend democracy for the people,” Pelosi said opening debate.
Trump, who began Wednesday tweeting his anger at the proceedings, scheduled an evening rally in Battle Creek, Michigan.
He pumped his fist before an enthusiastic crowd, boasted of “tremendous support” in the Republican Party and said, “By the way it doesn't feel like I'm being impeached.”
What Pelosi called a sad and solemn moment for the country, coming in the first year that Democrats swept control of the House, unfolded in a caustic daylong session that showcased the nation’s divisions - not only along party lines, but also by region, race and culture.
The House impeachment resolution laid out in stark terms the two articles of impeachment against Trump stemming from his July phone call when he asked the Ukraine president for a “favor” - to announce it was investigating Democrats ahead of the 2020 election. He also pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to probe unsubstantiated corruption allegations against Joe Biden, the former vice president and 2020 White House contender.
At the time, Zelenskiy, a young comedian newly elected to politics, was seeking a coveted White House visit to show backing from the U.S. ally as it confronts a hostile Russia at its border. He was also counting on $391 million in military aid already approved by Congress. The White House delayed the funds, but Trump eventually released the money once Congress intervened.
Narrow in scope but broad in its charge, the resolution said the president “betrayed the nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections,” and then obstructed Congress’ oversight like “no president" in U.S. history.
“President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office,” it said.
Republicans argued that Democrats are impeaching Trump because they can’t beat him in 2020.
“This vote is about one thing, and one thing only: They hate this president,” said Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah. "They want to take away my vote and throw it in the trash."
But Democrats warned the country cannot wait for the next election to decide whether Trump should remain in office because he has shown a pattern of behavior, particularly toward Russia, and will try to corrupt U.S. elections in 2020.
“The president and his men plot on,” said Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., of the Intelligence Committee that led the inquiry. “The danger persists. The risk is real.”
The outcome brings the Trump presidency to a milestone moment that has building almost from the time the New York businessman-turned-reality-TV host unexpectedly won the White House in 2016 amid questions about Russian interference in the U.S. election --- and the rise of the “resistance.”
Democrats drew from history, the founders and their own experiences, as minorities, women and some immigrants to the U.S., seeking to honor their oath of office to uphold the constitution. Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., spoke in Spanish asking God to unite the nation. “In America,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., “no one is above the law.”
Republicans aired Trump-style grievances about what Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko called a “rigged” process.
“We face this horror because of this map,” said Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Ala., before a poster of red and blue states. “They call this Republican map flyover country, they call us deplorables, they fear our faith, they fear our strength, they fear our unity, they fear our vote, and they fear our president.”
The political fallout from the vote will reverberate across an already polarized country with divergent views of Trump’s July phone call when Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate Democrats in the 2016 election, Biden and his son, Hunter, who worked on the board of a gas company in Ukraine while his father was the vice president.
Trump has repeatedly implored Americans to read the transcript of the call he said was “perfect.” But the facts it revealed, and those in an anonymous whistleblower’s complaint that sparked the probe, are largely undisputed.
More than a dozen current and former White House officials and diplomats testified for hours. The open and closed sessions under oath revealed what one called the “irregular channel” of foreign policy run by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, which focused on investigating the Bidens and alternative theories of 2016 election interference.
The question for lawmakers was whether the revelations amounted to impeachable offenses to be sent to the Senate for a trial.
Few lawmakers crossed party lines without consequence. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, D-N.J., who is considering changing parties over his opposition to impeachment, sat with Republicans. Rep. Justin Amash, the Michigan conservative who left the Republican party and became an independent over impeachment, said: “I come to this floor, not as a Republican, not as a Democrat, but as an American."
Beyond the impeachments of Andrew Johnson or Bill Clinton, this first impeachment of the 21st century is as much about what the president might do in the future as what he did in the past. And unlike investigation of Richard Nixon, who resigned rather than face the House vote over Watergate, the proceedings against Trump are playing out in an America already of mixed views over Trump.
Rank and file Democrats said they were willing to lose their jobs to protect the democracy from Trump. Some newly elected freshman remained in the chamber for hours during the debate.
“This is not about making history, this is about holding a lawless president accountable,” said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I.
GOP Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia said of the Democrats: "You’ve been wanting to do this ever since the gentleman was elected.''
Top Republicans, including Rep. Devin Nunes on the Intelligence Committee, called the Ukraine probe little more than the low-budget sequel to former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Mueller spent two years investigating the potential links between Moscow and the Trump campaign, but testified in July that his team could not establish that Trump conspired or coordinated with Russia to throw the election. Mueller did say he could not exonerate Trump of trying to obstruct the investigation, but he left that for Congress to decide.
The next day, Trump called Ukraine. Not quite four months later, a week before Christmas, Trump was impeached.
Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman, Matthew Daly, Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor in Washington contributed to this report.
(PREVIOUSLY)
A majority in U.S. House has voted to impeach President Donald Trump on the charge of abuse of power for enlisting a foreign ally to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election.
With voting still underway, Trump is on track to become the third president in U.S. history to be impeached, and the only one in modern times to be running for reelection facing the political equivalent of an indictment, an indelible mark on a purposely disruptive presidency.
Democrats led the voting on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, and were expected to approve another, obstruction of Congress, in what many framed as their duty to protect the Constitution to uphold the nation’s system of checks and balances. Republicans stood beside the party’s president who tests the bounds of civic norms calling the whole affair a “witch hunt,” a “hoax” and a “sham,” and sometimes all three.
Trump, who began Wednesday tweeting his anger at the proceedings, headed for an evening rally in Battle Creek, Michigan.
As the House debated the articles of impeachment, Trump's tweets switched to all capital letters: “SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!" he wrote.
Impeachment would send the matter to the Senate for a trial, where a two-thirds vote is necessary for conviction. While Democrats have the majority in the House, Republicans control the Senate and expect to acquit the president of the charges in the new year ahead of early state presidential primary voting.
But the focus Wednesday was on the House, which conducted lengthy debate into the evening hours.
"Today we are here to defend democracy for the people,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said as she opened debate.
What Pelosi calls a sad and solemn moment for the country, coming just 11 months after Democrats swept control of the House, actually unfolded in a caustic day-long session that showcased the nation’s divide. The split not just along party lines, but the cultural, regional and racial differences that underscore the partisanship in Congress. People gathered at the Capitol steps, and in protests across the nation, for impeachment.
“President Trump used the powers of the Presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States and undermined the integrity of the United States democratic process,” according to the impeachment resolution.
The president “betrayed the nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections,” it said, and then he obstructed Congress’ oversight like “no president”’ in U.S. history.
“President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office,” it said.
Democrats drew from history, the founders and their own experiences as minorities, women and some immigrants to the U.S., seeking to honor their oath of office to uphold the constitution. Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., spoke in Spanish asking God to unite the nation. “In America,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., “no one is above the law.”
Republicans aired Trump-style grievances about what Rep. Debbie Lesko called a “rigged” process and what Alabama Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah said was about Democrats who “hate this president” and want to undo the will of voters to remove him.
“We face this horror because of this map,” said Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Ala., before a poster of red and blue states. “This is what Democrats fear.... They call this Republican map flyover country, they call us deplorables, they fear our faith, they fear our strength, they fear our unity, they fear our vote, and they fear our president.”
The outcome brings the Trump presidency to a milestone moment that has building almost from the time the New York businessman-turned-reality-TV host unexpectedly won the White House in 2016 amid questions about Russian interference in the U.S. election --- and the rise of the “resistance.”
Republicans argued that Democrats are impeaching Trump because they can’t beat him in 2020. But Democrats warned the country cannot wait for the next election to decide whether Trump should remain in office because he has shown a pattern of behavior, particularly toward Russia, and will try to corrupt U.S. elections in 2020.
"This is not about making history, this is about holding a lawless president accountable," said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I.
“This is not a solemn occasion,” said GOP Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia. "You've been wanting to do this ever since the gentlemen was elected.''
The political fallout from the vote will reverberate across an already polarized country with divergent views of Trump’s July phone call when he asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a “favor” -an investigation of Democrats in the 2016 election and his 2020 rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who worked on the board of a gas company in Ukraine while his father was the vice president.
At the time, Zelenskiy, a young comedian newly elected to politics, was seeking a coveted White House visit to show backing from the U.S. ally as it confronts a hostile Russia at its border. He was also counting on $391 million in military aid already approved by Congress. The White House delayed the funds, but Trump eventually released the money once Congress intervened.
Trump implores Americans read the transcript of the call he said was “perfect.” But the facts it revealed, and those in an anonymous whistleblower’s complaint that sparked the probe, are largely undisputed.
More than a dozen current and former White House officials and diplomats testified in hours of open and closed sessions under oath at the Capitol about what one called the “irregular channel” of foreign policy run by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani focused on investigating the Bidens and alternative theories of 2016 election interference.
Beyond the impeachments of Andrew Johnson or Bill Clinton, this first impeachment of the 21st century is as much about what president’s past actions as what he might do in the future. And unlike investigation of Richard Nixon, who resigned rather than face the House vote over Watergate, the proceedings against Trump have not fully captivated Americans’ attention as the rarity of impeachment becomes more commonplace.
Pelosi, who brushed back liberals eager to impeach when Democrats won House control in the 2018 election, now risks her majority and speakership. Rank and file Democrats said they were willing to lose their jobs to protect the democracy from Trump.
Top Republicans, including Rep. Devin Nunes on the Intelligence Committee, called the Ukraine probe little more than the low-budget sequel to former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Mueller spent two years investigating the potential links between Moscow and the Trump campaign, resulting in indictments against a dozen Russian operatives and jail time for the president’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, personal lawyer Michael Cohen and others. In between questions swirled about Trump’s refusal to turn over his tax returns, hush money payments to porn stars and other activities. But Mueller did not deliver the findings Democrats needed for impeachment in July when he testified on Capitol Hill that his team could not establish that Trump conspired or coordinated with Russia to throw the election. Mueller did say he could not exonerate Trump of trying to obstruct the investigation, but he left that for Congress to decide.
The next day, Trump called Ukraine. Not quite four months later, a week before Christmas, Trump was impeached.
(PREVIOUSLY)
American history is happening in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democrats are driving President Donald Trump to the brink of impeachment Wednesday as the House takes up charges Trump abused his power and obstructed Congress in pressuring Ukraine to investigate political rivals and refusing to cooperate with the ensuing congressional probe.
The nation's 45th president is on track to become only the third commander in chief to be impeached.
But first, watch for a daylong showdown that's been boiling for years between Republicans loyal to Trump and Democrats who say his conduct toward Ukraine makes him unfit for office. Look, too, for legacy moments for Washington's political veterans on the eve of the 2020 election year.
What to watch during a historic day on Capitol Hill that is expected to end with a final vote Wednesday evening:
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SPOILER ALERT
Trump is heading for impeachment. When the House opens debate, the outcome will have been known for some time.
A tally compiled by The Associated Press found that a majority of House members have said they will vote to approve the charges and send them to the Senate for a trial next month.
The GOP-led Senate is not expected to convict and remove Trump from office.
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PARTISANS, MOSTLY
Expect most Democrats to vote for impeachment and all Republicans to vote against it.
But there are exceptions.
One freshman Democrat, Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, has indicated he will oppose impeachment, then switch parties to become a Republican. Earlier this year, Michigan conservative Rep. Justin Amash left the GOP when he favored impeachment. He is expected to vote yes to impeach.
One new Democratic congressman, Jared Golden of Maine, said he would vote to impeach on abuse of power but not obstruction.
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AMERICANS
Expect the House to take the nation's us-vs-them political culture out for a spin before a global audience. But it's not clear the proceedings are changing many minds.
Trump's approval ratings have held steady since a whistleblower report and a partial transcript revealed he had pressured Ukraine's president to investigate Democrats.
Wide shares of Democrats both disapprove of the president and support impeachment, while wide shares of Republicans approve of Trump and want him to remain in office.
New polls from The Washington Post/ABC News and CNN find support for impeachment and removal remains at about half of Americans.
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‘PROFOUND DISGRACE’
Impeachment will subject Trump to what former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter called a “profound disgrace" that stains a president's legacy forever. Only two presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998.
Richard Nixon chose to resign instead.
Trump has mocked the articles of impeachment as weak.
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TRUMP'S DAY
He's heading to Michigan, the Democratic state he flipped in 2016. Vice President Mike Pence is on a bus tour across the state and expected to join Trump at the rally in Battle Creek.
On the eve of the floor action, Trump gave a nearly six-page preview of his approach in a rambling letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. in which he cast himself as a victim and accused the Democrats of smarting over their election losses. "You are the ones bringing pain and suffering to our Republic for your own selfish, personal political and partisan gain.”
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PELOSI
It's legacy time for her, too.
In her second turn as speaker, the House veteran of more than three decades says relentlessly that impeachment is a somber time, not one for celebration. She says the Clinton impeachment proceedings were too divisive for the county and resisted opening impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush after the Iraq War.
She refused to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump over his obstruction of the Russia investigation, saying she'd be against doing so unless there was bipartisan sentiment for it.
That still doesn't exist for the impeachment articles now headed for passage. But Pelosi has said Trump's conduct toward Ukraine, while holding up military aid to that country, left her no choice.
“Very sadly, the facts have made clear that the President abused his power for his own personal, political benefit and that he obstructed Congress,” Pelosi wrote to colleagues. “In America, no one is above the law.”
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NEXT STOP: SENATE
After votes on each of the two amendments, the House is expected to authorize Pelosi to name a team of prosecutors for the Senate trial. Lobbying for the jobs is well underway. The wagering begins with the two lead House impeachment chairmen, Adam Schiff of Intelligence and Jerrold Nadler of Judiciary, playing roles.
The trial is expected to begin in January, with Chief Justice John Roberts presiding.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have begun negotiating, and sniping, over how the trial will be conducted.
McConnell set the partisan tone by declaring that he's “not an impartial juror.”
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Follow Kellman on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman