UNITED STATES─President Donald Trump became the third President of the United States to be impeached. The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump on Wednesday, December 18 by a vote of 229 in favor of impeachment against 197 who voted against impeachment.
Not a single Republican in the House voted for President Trump to be impeached. Several Democrats including Minnesota Representative Collin C. Peterson, New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew voted against impeaching President Trump. Maine Rep. Jared Golden voted in favor of impeaching the President on the charge of abuse of power, but voted against impeachment for the charge yielded that he obstructed Congress. All three Democrats represent Districts which President Trump won in 2016.
President Trump’s impeachment is a result of allegations that he asked the Ukrainian government to interfere with investigating potential 2020 Presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. President Trump initially halted a $400 million military package to the Ukrainian government, before later releasing the funds amid a quid pro quo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Details of the phone conversation between President Trump and President Zelensky was released to the public via transcripts in September 2019. Details about the inquiry were the result of a whistleblower, who has not yet been publicly announced to the public revealing President Trump asked Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son Hunter, for possible corruption involving the Ukrainian company CrowdStrike.
Others U.S. Presidents to face impeachment included Andrew Jackson and Bill Clinton. President Trump was impeached on both articles of impeachment which included obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. The White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham issued the following statement after news was announced of President Trump’s impeachment:
“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.”
President Trump was in Battle Creek, Michigan where he held a campaign rally. During the rally, he discussed the importance of having one of the strongest economies in years. Over 10,000 people attended the campaign rally on Wednesday. As news of his impeachment were announced, President Trump replied: “It doesn’t feel like we’re being impeached.”
He added, ““So we got every single Republican voted for us? Whoa! Wow, we didn’t lose one Republican vote and three Democrats voted for us — hey! The Republican Party has never been so affronted but they have never been so united as they are right now.”
Earlier in the day President Trump tweeted: “Can you believe that I will be impeached today by the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, AND I DID NOTHING WRONG! A terrible Thing. Read the Transcripts. This should never happen to another President again. Say a PRAYER!”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi held a press conference where she discussed the impeachment vote as following the rules of democracy and the founding fathers. Representative Jerry Nadler and Intelligence House Chairman also spoke during the press conference where questions were raised about when the House will release the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
Pelosi indicated to reporters that the House would wait to see what the Senate plans to do in regards to the trial before sending over the articles of impeachment for review. Concerns have been raised regarding a fair trial being held for President Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell held a press conference on Thursday, December 19 to address President’s Trump’s impeachment.
“Last night, House Democrats passed the thinnest, weakest presidential impeachment in American history. Now they’re suggesting they are too afraid to even submit their accusations to the Senate and go to trial. The prosecutors are getting cold feet in front of the entire country,” tweeted McConnell.
He followed up with that tweet by saying, “I am glad that leading Democrats seem to have buyer’s remorse about the least fair, least thorough, and most rushed impeachment in American history. They should. But for the sake of the country, I wish this understanding had dawned on them yesterday.”
No details regarding a trial date for President’s Trump’s impeachment has been announced. Thursday, December 19 marks the last day of the calendar year for members of Congress to be in session. They will be on holiday break and return to Capitol Hill after the New Year.
