After three months of hearings and an extensive investigation, the process of Donald Trump's impeachment has reached its peak. On Wednesday, December 18, the US House of Representatives voted on two articles of impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Democrats vs. Republicans
The historic vote was preceded by six hours of intense debates, with both parties actively defending their point of view.
According to Democrats, Donald Trump has endangered the US democracy and created breaches in national security by letting a foreign country interfere in American elections – both in the past and the future. The Democratic representatives have repeatedly stated that Donald J. Trump has undermined the integrity of US elections and violated his oath of office.
Republicans, on the other hand, argued that the accusations were based solely on political bias. As House minority asserted, the case for impeachment was weak and didn’t present enough crime proof. Many Republicans accused the Democrats of planning Trump's demise since the beginning of his presidency at the end of 2016.
Ukraine caught up in the middle
During the debates, both parties have repeatedly mentioned Ukraine – more specifically, the withheld military aid and the concerning phone conversation between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky. The latter, perceived as pressuring, made ground for the first article of the impeachment process – the abuse of the power of the presidency.
Republicans, in turn, have firmly stated that Trump never exercised any pressure – the rhetoric also supported by Ukraine’s President Zelensky. As for the military aid, Trump and his team’s main argument is that the assistance has been provided unconditionally, although two months later than previewed.
Democrats, then, presented a counterargument, emphasizing the abuse of power - Trump withheld the $391 million support for Ukraine in order to pressure Zelensky into investigating former US Vice President Joe Biden. The Democratic representatives have also pointed out that, by withholding the aid to Ukraine, Trump has opted for prioritizing personal interest. The president was trying to undermine his potential rival in 2020 presidential elections – instead of helping the allies in the war with Russia.
It was only after the whistleblower's report in September – after two months of incomprehensible delay – that the military aid was provided.
This "quid pro quo" deal, which was fully denied by the Republicans, was somewhat confirmed a few weeks ago during the public impeachment hearings. Trump's envoy to the European Union, Ambassador Gordon Sondland, claimed that he was the one to communicate the conditions directly to Mr. Zelensky.
The House voted: what next?
The US House of Representatives impeached President Donald J. Trump on two charges: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. This made Trump the third impeached President in the US 243-year history.
The voting was separate for both articles and out of needed 218 votes for the first article, 230 voted “for” while 197 “against”. The second article gained 229 positive votes. The Republicans voted “against” in both votings. However, with the democratic majority, the final decision was in favor of impeachment.
According to the impeachment procedure, the case will now be transferred to Senate for trial. The trial, in turn, will determine if Trump should be removed from office.
It is, however, highly unlikely that Senate removes Trump from the White House. While Democrats have a House majority, they’re in the minority in Senate. It takes two-thirds of the senators to indict a president – which makes Donald Trump’s fate nearly fully dependent on his own party.
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, delays passing the resolution to Senate for the time being. According to Politico, with that, she and top Democrats hope to put pressure on the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to adopt trial procedures they consider bipartisan.
At the same time, McConnell stated that he had no plans to be "impartial," and that the 45th President of the United States of America will be cleared of all charges.
“He needs to be respectful of the process. He can defend himself, he has a right to express his grievances but if I were him I would… keep a low profile,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham regarding Trump’s behavior during the trial.
