US President Donald Trump was impeached for abuse of power in a historic vote in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, setting up a Senate trial on removing him from office after three turbulent years.<\/p>\n
By a 230 to 197 vote in the Democratic-majority House, the 45th US president became just the third occupant of the White House in American history to be impeached.<\/p>\n
Democrats said they had \u201cno choice\u201d but to formally charge the 73-year-old Republican, whose impeachment along stark party lines places an indelible stain on his record while driving a spike ever deeper into the US political divide.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is at risk here is the very idea of America,\u201d said Adam Schiff, the lawmaker who led the impeachment inquiry, ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n
Trump will now stand trial in the Senate, where his Republicans hold a solid majority and are expected to exonerate him.<\/p>\n
The House vote came four months after a whistleblower blew open the scandal of Trump pressuring Ukraine\u2019s president to investigate his potential White House challenger in 2020, the veteran Democrat Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
After a marathon 10-hour debate, lawmakers also voted 229-198 to approve the second article of impeachment facing Trump \u2013 for obstructing the congressional probe into his Ukraine dealings.<\/p>\n
Trump spent the first part of the day holed up at the White House, tweeting in frustration, but on Wednesday night the president was on friendlier territory.<\/p>\n
In an extraordinary split screen moment, as the House was casting votes to impeach him, thousands of Trump\u2019s most fervent supporters were cheering him at a rally in Michigan where he railed against a \u201cradical left\u201d he said was \u201cconsumed with hatred\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Democrats are declaring their deep hatred and disdain for the American voter,\u201d Trump said to boos and cheers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been trying to impeach me from day one. They\u2019ve been trying to impeach me from before I ran,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour more years, four more years,\u201d the crowd chanted back.<\/p>\n
Despite testimony from 17 officials that Trump leveraged his office for political gain, the president maintained his innocence throughout the impeachment inquiry \u2013 denouncing it as an \u201cattempted coup\u201d and an \u201cassault on America\u201d.<\/p>\n
Threat to national security<\/p>\n
White House spokesperson Stephanie Grisham blasted the House vote as \u201cone of the most shameful political episodes in the history of our Nation\u201d, saying Trump \u201cis prepared for the next steps and confident that he will be fully exonerated\u201d.<\/p>\n
Neither of the two previous presidents impeached since 1789, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, was convicted in the Senate, and both held onto their jobs.<\/p>\n
But despite the high likelihood of Trump being cleared by Senate Republicans, Democrats said that overwhelming evidence had forced the House to act.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is tragic that the president\u2019s reckless actions make impeachment necessary. He gave us no choice,\u201d said Speaker Nancy Pelosi.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a matter of fact that the president is an ongoing threat to our national security and the integrity of our elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
The day of dramatic and often angry oratory saw both sides delving deep into Constitutional law, citing the country\u2019s hallowed founders Benjamin Franklin or Alexander Hamilton, as outside Congress protesters clamoured for impeachment.<\/p>\n
Republicans claimed Trump was treated more unfairly than witches tried in the 17th century \u2013 or even Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
\u201cPontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than the Democrats afforded this president and this process,\u201d said Georgia Republican Barry Loudermilk.<\/p>\n
\u201cVoters will never forget that Democrats have been triggered into impeaching the president, because they don\u2019t like him, and they don\u2019t like us,\u201d charged Republican Matt Gaetz.<\/p>\n
Battle opens over Senate trial<\/p>\n
Both sides were already gearing up for a battle over the Senate trial, where Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has the upper hand in setting rules and has already said he will coordinate with Trump\u2019s team in doing so.<\/p>\n
That could lead to a trial as short as two weeks, which by acquitting the president could turn impeachment into a political win in the run-up to the November 2020 election.<\/p>\n
Democrats declared after Wednesday\u2019s vote that McConnell needs testimony from four current and former White House aides with direct knowledge of Trump\u2019s Ukraine dealings \u2013 and who he blocked from testifying in the House.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question is now whether Senator McConnell will allow a fair trial in the Senate, whether the majority leader will allow a trial that involves witnesses and testimony and documents,\u201d said Schiff.<\/p>\n
Pelosi hinted that the House leaders could hold off sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate to pressure McConnell on the witness issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far, we haven\u2019t seen anything that looks fair to us,\u201d she told reporters. \u201cWe\u2019ll decide what that dynamic is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut right now, the president is impeached.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US President Donald Trump was impeached for abuse of power in a historic vote in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, setting up a Senate trial on removing him from office after three turbulent years. By a 230 to 197 vote in the Democratic-majority House, the 45th US president became just the third occupant of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":5073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[1172,799],"class_list":{"0":"post-16948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-trump","10":"tag-us-zimbabwe-relations"},"yoast_head":"\n