President Donald Trump impeached for abuse of power

Ag AFP

WASHINGTON/KIEV/MOSCOW: The US House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Donald Trump on two articles that include abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The members of the House debated all day on Wednesday and voted mainly on party lines making Trump the third president in history to be charged with committing high crimes and face removal by the Senate. Since Senate is run by Republicans, there's a high chance that the proceedings will be turned down. However, the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi suggested after the voting that she might wait to send the articles to the Senate, holding them out as leverage in a negotiation on the terms of a trial.

Nancy Pelosi opened the debate on the impeachment saying that, "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."

The two articles of impeachment were led by Judiciary and Intelligence Committees of the House. The Republicans supported the president, while only two Democrats opposed the article on abuse of power. It passed 230 to 197. On the second charge, thevote was 229 to 198 when the third Democrat joined Republicans in opposition.

While debating the articles, Democrats characterised the impeachment proceedings as urgent to stop president from misdeeds. "Over the course of the last three months, we have found incontrovertible evidence that President Trump abused his power by pressuring the newly elected president of Ukraine to announce an investigation into President Trump's political rival," said Congressman Adam Schiff, who's also chairman of the Intelligence Committee and led the impeachment inquiry. "The danger persists. This risk is real. Our democracy is at peril," the congressman added.

Meanwhile, President Trump who had announced earlier that he was not worried about the proceedings. Later, he tweeted, "Such atrocities lies by the radical left, do nothing Democrats. This is an assault on America, and an assault on the Republican party!!!!."

Meanwhile, Democrats said they had "no choice" but to formally charge the 73-year-old Republican, whose impeachment along stark party lines places an indelible stain on his record while driving a spike ever deeper into the US political divide.

Trump will now stand trial in the Senate, where his Republicans hold a solid majority and are expected to exonerate him.

Trump spent the first part of the day holed up at the White House, tweeting in frustration, but on Wednesday night the president was on friendlier territory.

In an extraordinary split screen moment, as the House was casting votes to impeach him, thousands of Trump´s most fervent supporters were cheering him at a rally in Michigan where he railed against a "radical left" he said was "consumed with hatred." "The Democrats are declaring their deep hatred and disdain for the American voter," Trump said to boos and cheers. "They´ve been trying to impeach me from day one. They´ve been trying to impeach me from before I ran," he said. "Four more years, four more years," the crowd chanted back.

Despite testimony from 17 officials that Trump leveraged his office for political gain, the president maintained his innocence throughout the impeachment inquiry -- denouncing it as an "attempted coup" and an "assault on America."

White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham blasted the House vote as "one of the most shameful political episodes in the history of our Nation," saying Trump "is prepared for the next steps and confident that he will be fully exonerated.

Neither of the two previous presidents impeached since 1789, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, was convicted in the Senate, and both held onto their jobs.

Republicans claimed Trump was treated more unfairly than those tried as witches in the 17th century -- or even than Jesus Christ. "Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than the Democrats afforded this president and this process," said Georgia Republican Barry Loudermilk.

"Voters will never forget that Democrats have been triggered into impeaching the president, because they don´t like him, and they don´t like us," charged Republican Matt Gaetz.

Both sides were already gearing up for a battle over the Senate trial, where Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has the upper hand in setting rules and has already said he will coordinate with Trump´s team in doing so. That could lead to a trial as short as two weeks, which by acquitting the president could turn impeachment into a political win in the run-up to the November 2020 election.

"The question is now whether Senator McConnell will allow a fair trial in the Senate, whether the majority leader will allow a trial that involves witnesses and testimony and documents," said Schiff. Pelosi hinted that the House leaders could hold off sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate to pressure McConnell on the witness issue.

"Trump to Jesus" was soon trending on Twitter, but Loudermilk was hardly the only lawmaker to reference Jesus´ crucifixion during the day´s proceedings.

James Martin, a Jesuit priest and US author posted on Twitter that he believed there were some differences in Trump and Jesus´ treatment: "Pilate had Jesus beaten and whipped, thrown into jail overnight, marched through the streets carrying his cross, and then nailed to that cross until he died."

"Comparing the treatment received by the President to what Jesus suffered is absurd. Also, only one of them is sinless," he said.

Meanwhile Ukraine on Thursday brushed off the impeachment of Donald Trump a US "internal issue", despite the process being triggered by a telephone conversation between the American leader and his Ukrainian counterpart.

Trump was impeached on Wednesday by the House of Representatives for abuse of power over the July conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky. "Ukraine does not interfere in the internal affairs of any state," Zelensky´s spokeswoman Yuliya Mendel said. "The United States remains a strategic partner for us, and we are pleased to strengthen our relations by expanding cooperation in various fields," she said.

Despite being embroiled in the controversy, Ukraine is seeking to preserve the bipartisan support from the United States which is crucial in its protracted conflict with Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that the impeachment of Donald Trump was based on "made-up" grounds, adding he did not believe it marked the end of the US president.

"It still needs to go through the Senate, where the Republicans have a majority," Putin said after the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for abuse of power.

"And it is hardly likely that they are going to push out of office a representative of their own party, on grounds that are absolutely made-up," he added.

Speaking at his marathon end-of-year news conference, Putin described the events in the US legislature as "simply the continuation of an internal political fight" between Democrats and Republicans. He reproached the journalist who asked the question for "speaking about Trump as if he is finished".

Putin indicated he believed this was only a pretext used by the Democrats to impeach Trump after failing to corner him over claims that Moscow interfered in the presidential elections that brought him to power. "The Democrats accused Trump of a plot with Russia, and then it emerged that there was no kind of plot. It could not be the basis of an impeachment," said Putin. "Then they thought up some kind of pressure on Ukraine."