Trump impeachment: House impeaches president in historic vote along party lines
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The House has voted to impeach Donald Trump, making him the third president in American history to receive such a censure.
After roughly eight hours of debate, the House of Representatives gathered to vote and ultimately charged him with abusing the power of his office by attempting to extort a political favour from Ukraine. The House then voted on a second article of impeachment, approving formal charges that Mr Trump had obstructed Congress during the subsequent congressional investigation into his conduct.
The Senate will now take up the approved impeachment articles in the new year.
Defiant as ever, Mr Trump walked onstage at a rally in Michigan just as the House began voting — and was bragging about his Space Force and mocking stock market jitters as the first article of impeachement was approved. Before it became official, as the vote crept towards approving the first article of impeachment, Mr Trump was interrupted by a protester, who he suggested was treated too well by security forces — and that they should have been tougher on her.
Before the vote and rally, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius described a letter sent by Mr Trump to House speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday as “the most unpresidential presidential document ever written” on MSNBC’s Morning Joe after rallies backing the impeachment process were held in cities across the country on Tuesday evening.
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Donald Trump has departed the White House en route to his rally in Minnesota tonight, where it is sure he will comment on today's impeachment proceedings.
Mr Trump has been astonishingly quiet for the past four hours or so as debate has continued. He'll have some time, presumably, to tweet on Air Force One — though we'll see.
New York Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney with a double metaphor: "Like a tin can tied to his leg" Trump's impeachment "will rattle behind him in the pages of history."
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has mocked Republican Barry Loudermilk, drawing attention to a bible verse on sacrilege after the congressman compared Donald Trump's impeachment to the persecution of Jesus Christ.
She responded to his remarks with a reference to Romans 1:25, which reads: "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen."
California Senator Kamala Harris, who recently suspended her 2020 presidential campaign, has penned a New York Times op-ed questioning whether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to hold a fair impeachment trial.
Sen. McConnell, she writes, “appears more interested in covering up the president’s misconduct than in pursuing truth and fairness.”
Republicans have repeatedly accused House Democrats of committing abuses of power, not the president, as outlined in impeachment articles, for their pursuit of impeachment.
Adam Schiff, striking back, says Republicans refuse to address the charges in their remarks. They groan. Schiff: "Apparently I've struck a nerve."
Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin gets three minutes, eviscerating Democrats, then gets a "Schiff Show" into his closer.
In case you missed it earlier, here's a clip of Republican Congressman Russ Fulcher using his speaking time to "detail every high crime misdemeanor committed by the President of the United States."
He just stood there.
Devin Nunes, who appeared in call logs with Rudy Giuliani and his associate Lev Parnas, is now speaking on the House floor.
Nunes spent Congressional hearings promoting the theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that backed interference campaigns in US elections in 2016.
Weeks later, a 300-page investigation revealed that he had talked with those men while they were promoting the Ukraine conspiracy in the press.
On the floor, he suggested Democrats colluded with Russians and sought naked photos of the president.
By most counts, we're about 30 minutes out from an impeachment vote. We're hearing from Democrat Carolyn Maloney, of New York, right now after several speeches from top Republicans who have made names for themselves during these impeachment hearings.
"president Trump's actions are even worse than Nixons. Let me repeat, president Trump's actions are even worse than Nixons," she said after noting the White House has largely resisted cooperation with the impeachment hearings.
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