US President Donald Trump was impeached for abuse of power in a historic vote in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, setting up a Senate trial on removing him from office after three turbulent years.
Democrats said that they had “no choice” but to formally charge the Republican president, whose impeachment along stark party lines places an indelible stain on his record while driving a spike ever deeper into the US political divide.
Adam Schiff, the lawmakers who headed the impeachment enquiry said,”What is at risk here is the very idea of America”.
Today marks the culmination in the House of one of the most shameful political episodes in the history of our Nation. Without a single Republican vote or any proof of wrongdoing, Democrats pushed illegitimate articles of impeachment through the House of Representatives.
Trump will now stand trial in the Senate, where his Republicans hold a solid majority and are expected to exonerate him.
The House vote came four months after a whistleblower blew open the scandal of Trump pressuring Ukraine’s president to investigate his potential White House challenger in 2020, the veteran Democrat Joe Biden.
On Tuesday, President Trump wrote a letter fiercely attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic opposition for destroying American democracy by attempting a coup against the American head of state.
Trump said that the whole inquiry against him is “declaring open war on American Democracy”, demanding that the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, “immediately cease this impeachment fantasy”.
“By proceeding with your invalid impeachment, you are violating your oaths of office, you are breaking your allegiance to the Constitution, and you are declaring open war on American democracy,” Trump said in the letter addressed to Pelosi the day before the House of Representatives is to vote for his impeachment on grounds of “obstruction of Congress” and “abuse of power.”
Earlier in the month, President Trump took to Twitter, saying “The good thing is that the Republicans have NEVER been more united. We will win!”.
Earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the Democrats will begin drafting articles of impeachment against President Trump.
While impeachment is expected to pass in the Democratic-led House, the Senate is held by a Republican majority and would likely acquit the US president as his 2020 reelection campaign gathers pace.
Pelosi argued that the president’s conduct when it came to Ukraine left Democrats with “no choice but to act,” charging that Trump abused the powers of the presidency and leaving little doubt that the House will hold a vote to impeach him as early as before Christmas.
In September, the impeachment inquiry, which Nancy Pelosi initiated over a complaint by an anonymous whistleblower, is looking into White House’s alleged efforts to withhold military aid to have Ukraine investigate a Trump’s political rival, Joe Biden.
(With inputs from agency)