Washington: The US House of Representatives on Wednesday night impeached President Donald Trump on two counts — abuse of power and obstructing the Congress.
The first article of impeachment, abuse of power, was on party lines with 230 to 197 votes.
The second article of impeachment, obstruction to the Congress, was voted 229-198 votes.
The White House described the impeachment as one of the most shameful political episodes in the history of the US.
All four Democratic Indian American members of the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump.
The impeachment now moves to the Senate where Supreme Court Chief Justice would preside over the trial.
Given that the ruling Republicans have majority in the 100-member Senate, political analysts say that impeachment is likely to fail and the Democrats might not be able to unseat Trump from the Oval Office.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would hold an impeachment trial early next year. Democrats need two-third majority in the Senate to convict Trump.
“If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty. It is tragic that the President’s reckless actions make impeachment necessary. He gave us no choice,” Democratic leader and House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in her remarks on the floor of the House.
“There is a rush-job because they want to influence the 2020 elections,” Republcian Jim Sensenbrenner said.
“I just left the House floor and voted to impeach President Trump,” Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said in an e-mail to his supporters.
“Here are the facts: President Trump abused his power. He threatened our democracy and obstructed Congress. He compromised our election and national security,” he said.
In his first reaction, Trump said the Democrats were trying to impeach him from day one.
“They’ve been trying to impeach me from day one. After three years of sinister witch hunts, hoaxes, scams, tonight, House Democrats are trying to nullify the ballots of tens of millions of patriotic Americans,” he said in his address to a Keep America Great rally in Michigan.
“Crazy Nancy Pelosi’s House Democrats have branded themselves with an eternal mark of shame,” he said.
He then slammed his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton. Loud “Lock Her Up!” chant from the crowd after he mocked her stamina.
“They shouldn’t even be able to have an impeachment,” he said. “If we were Democrats, they would have been in jail two years ago,” he said. “It’s a disgrace.”
“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,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
“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,” Grisham added.
She said 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, she said.
Grisham said 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,” she said.
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President Donald Trump has entered the history books, although not in the way he would have liked. The Senate trial, presided over by Chief Justice John Roberts, will be a dignified proceeding. Many Americans have done jury duty, or know someone who has. As the material is brought on record, they will think, If I was sitting in judgment, would I have found him innocent or guilty ?