Following hours of fiery debate,Donald Trump is now the third president in U.S. history to be impeached by the House. The House voted to impeach Trump on two articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
As we told you before, Andrew Johnson was the first (he was impeached during the post-Civil War years),Bill Clinton came next in the late 1990s after committing perjury in the investigation of a sex scandal. Of course, Johnson and Clinton were acquitted in subsequent Senate trials – and when it comes to Richard Nixon in the 70s, he resigned his presidency before House votes on impeachment in the Watergate scandal.
Still, not all went as assumed yesterday as four Democrats broke ranks with their party. Reps.Jeff Van Drew (New Jersey) and Collin Peterson (Minnesota) voted no on both articles. Maine Rep.Jared Golden only voted no on obstruction of Congress. Meanwhile, Hawaii Congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard also broke with her party, but in a different way. Choosing not to vote yes or no...she voted “present.” She said she couldn't participate in a “purely partisan” process in good conscience. A Senate trial is expected to begin next month.
- The White House says the vote to impeachPresident Trump marks "one of the most shameful political episodes in the history of our Nation." As for the GOP response? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he’ll take to the Senate floor this morning to speak about Mr. Trump's impeachment. Still, he’s already calledthe impeachment "precedent-breaking."
- On a related note, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may be dragging her feet in the process now. Pointing to questions about a "fair trial" in the Senate, Pelosi says she may wait before sending the Impeachment articles to the Senate. She told reporters, "So far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us."
Source:C-SPAN