House Votes to Impeach President Trump, Senate Trial to Come in January
After eight hours of debate on the House floor, the US House of Representatives voted Wednesday night to impeach President Donald Trump for alleged abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The vote went straight down party lines as expected 233 to 197 in favor of the majority Democrats.
Trump becomes only the third president in US history to be impeached following Bill Clinton (1998) and Andrew Johnson (1868).
Trump criticized the vote moments after the articles were approved as he addressed supporters at a rally in Battle Creek, Mich.
“They’re the ones that should be impeached,” Trump said of Democrat lawmakers. “House Democrats are trying to nullify the ballots of tens of millions of patriotic Americans,” he said.
The focus now shifts to the Senate where a trial will be held in January. The Senate needs a two-thirds majority vote for the impeachment articles to pass and two remove Trump from office. Republicans, who hold a majority in the Senate, are expected to acquit the President.
As CBN News reported, Senate leaders have already begun battling over the trial.
Majority leader Mitch McConnell rejected Sen. Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) demand that he call witnesses, including Acting White House Chief of Staff. Mick Mulvaney and former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
McConnell says it's not the Senate's job to prove the House's case.
"If House Democrats' case is this deficient, this thin, the answer is not for the judge and jury to cure it here in the Senate," he said.
Just after the House voted White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham released the following statement:
"Today marks the culmination in the House of one of the most shameful political episodes in the history of our Nation. Without receiving a single Republican vote, and without providing any proof of wrongdoing, Democrats pushed illegitimate articles of impeachment against the President through the House of Representatives. Democrats have chosen to proceed on this partisan basis in spite of the fact that the President did absolutely nothing wrong. Indeed, weeks of hearings have proved that he did nothing wrong.
Throughout the House Democrats' entire sham impeachment, the President was denied fundamental fairness and due process under the law. The House blatantly ignored precedent and conducted the inquiry in secrecy behind closed doors so that Chairman Adam Schiff and his partisan political cronies could selectively leak information to their partners in the media to push a false narrative.
When public hearings were held before Chairman Schiff's committee, Democrats continued their games and denied the President the ability to cross-examine witnesses or present witnesses or evidence. The proceedings in the Judiciary Committee included no fact witnesses at all and consisted solely of a biased law seminar and a staffer rehashing the slanted report that was produced by Chairman Schiff's rigged proceeding. This unconstitutional travesty resulted in two baseless articles of impeachment that lack any support in evidence and fail even to describe any impeachable offense.
All of these antics make clear that Democrats have lost sight of what this country needs, which is a Congress that works for the people. Their boundless animus for President Trump fuels their desire to nullify the 2016 election results, and improperly influence the 2020 election.
The American people are not fooled by this disgraceful behavior. They understand fairness, due process, and substantial, reliable evidence are required before any American should be charged with wrongdoing—and certainly before impeaching a duly elected President.
The President is confident the Senate will restore regular order, fairness, and due process, all of which were ignored in the House proceedings. He is prepared for the next steps and confident that he will be fully exonerated. President Trump will continue to work tirelessly to address the needs and priorities of the American people, as he has since the day he took office."
