Majority of US House votes in favor of Trump impeachment
The majority of the members of the US House of Representatives found Donald Trump guilty of two charges in the Ukraine case. With the approval of the House of Representatives, the impeachment bill of Trump will be sent to the Senate for final consideration.
Despite angry reactions and Donald Trump's aggressive six-page letter, the US House of Representatives meeting to discuss and vote on the impeachment bill against the president was held as scheduled on Wednesday, December 18.
Given that the majority of seats in the House of Representatives are held by members and affiliates of the Democratic Party, as expected, 230 representatives voted on the first charge, abuse of power, against Donald Trump. 197 representatives did not find this charge against Trump.
On the second charge, obstruction of Congress, 229 people voted in favor and 189 voted against.
The House of Representatives is made up of 435 voting representatives from the 50 states and six non-voting observers. Each party must have at least 218 seats to hold a majority, which the Democrats achieved in the November elections last year.
The meeting was held on Wednesday to consider two charges against Donald Trump, alleging abuse of power and obstruction of Congressional investigations into the Ukraine case.
Trump's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, called the result of the vote in the House of Representatives "a turning point in one of the most shameful episodes in American history."
According to the White House, Trump is confident that the Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, will hold a fair hearing and that he will be fully acquitted.
Republicans have a majority in the Senate, and this chamber must also vote on impeachment.
Trump is accused of pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, his potential rival in the upcoming presidential election, and his son, and of delaying Washington's military aid to Kiev in return.
Obstruction of the investigation and witness intimidation are other charges against Trump. He is also accused of posting several tweets during the testimony of Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, at the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry hearing (November 16) that were deemed to be aimed at discrediting and intimidating the witness in the case.
Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who chaired the impeachment inquiry hearing with Marie Yovanovitch, read out Donald Trump's tweets and accused him of trying to intimidate witnesses in the case.
Accusations of "coup" against Democratic representatives
Yesterday (Tuesday, December 16), Trump, in a six-page letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic members of the House, called the impeachment process against him illegal, a war on American democracy, and an attempt at a "coup".
On Wednesday, before the start of the session of the House, he claimed in a Twitter message that he had done nothing wrong and emphasized that such an incident should not be repeated for any other president in the United States.
Trump, who was apparently watching the House of Representatives session live on television, responded to issues raised by representatives via Twitter during the debates. In one of these messages, he once again accused Democrats of lying and wrote that their job was to attack America and the Republican Party.
Only two US presidents have been impeached before, Andrew Johnson (19th century, 1868) and Bill Clinton (20th century, 1998), both of whom failed. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before his impeachment trial could begin.
The Senate trial of Donald Trump will result in his conviction and removal from office if two-thirds of senators vote in favor. Democrats currently hold less than half of the Senate seats.
According to AFP, during the House of Representatives session, some people demonstrated in support of Trump's impeachment and removal in several states, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston and New Orleans.
Supporters of impeachment believe that the evidence clearly proves Donald Trump's wrongdoings and abuse of power. Trump supporters, on the other hand, consider December 18 a "sad day" for the House of Representatives and believe that the impeachment process was unfair.
Source: DW
