Trump is the third president in U.S. history to be impeached. The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump on both articles of impeachment, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
As the House of Representatives crossed the vote threshold needed to impeach President Donald Trump, making him the third president in U.S. history to face a Senate trial, Trump climbed on stage here to the roar of his fans for a historic split-screen evening.
“It doesn’t really feel like we’re being impeached. The country is doing better than ever before, we did nothing wrong, and we have tremendous support in the Republican Party like we’ve never had before,” Trump said, offering one line of defense after another from a stage adorned with Christmas decorations.
President Donald Trump impeachment: “What is at risk here is the very idea of America,” said Adam Schiff, the lawmaker who headed the impeachment probe
Donald Trump has been impeached by the US House of Representatives
While the House impeached Trump for abuse of power by a 230-197 vote, it voted 230 to 197 against him for obstruction of Congress, making him the third occupant of the White House in American history to be impeached.
Democrats said they had “no choice” but to formally charge the Republican president, whose impeachment along stark party lines places an indelible stain on his record while driving a spike ever deeper into the US political divide. “What is at risk here is the very idea of
America,” said Adam Schiff, the lawmaker who headed the impeachment inquiry, ahead of the vote. Trump will now stand trial in the Senate, where his Republicans hold a solid majority and are expected to exonerate him.
Trump will now face a trial in the Senate, where Republicans have a majority and removal from office is unlikely. If convicted Trump will be removed from office, an unprecedented outcome but one which looks like a highly unlikely conclusion to what has increasingly become a partisan, political, rather than criminal, process.
Trump was facing two articles of impeachment — for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — and both articles were passed in the Democratic-majority House. Going forward, Trump is expected to stand trial in the Republican-led Senate beginning in early January.
