The House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, after a vote on Friday. Both Republicans and Democrats spent nearly 14 hours on Thursday debating on the charges against President Trump. However, the vote was postponed just before midnight by the Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), sparking heated confrontations. “The committee will now stand in recess until tomorrow morning at 10 a.m., at which point I will move to divide the question so that each of us may have the opportunity to cast up-or-down votes on each of the articles of impeachment, and let history be our judge,” said Nadler, prompting Republicans to object in frustration.
“They want the prime-time hit,” ranking Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) commented on the delay set by Democrats during the interview with the press. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) agreed, painting the recess as “outrageous” and “Stalinesque,” according to Fox News. He stated that the vote has been postponed so more people could watch it. Republicans seemed united against the charges, lamenting about a dangerous precedent this move can set for future Presidents. Democrats rebutted that they didn’t want Republicans to claim that they had approved the articles in the middle of the night.
It took only 10 minutes on Friday morning to approve both articles of impeachment strictly along party lines, with 23 Democrats endorsing them and 17 Republicans objecting. Now they will be sent to the full House for a final vote, making Trump the fourth President in history facing impeachment, according to the Washington Post. If approved, the matter would move to the Senate for an impeachment trial. President Trump is likely to be acquitted by the Republican-controlled chamber.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-KY) swiftly reacted to the move, stating that “There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this to the extent that we can.” His assurance that the President has “zero chance” of getting impeached infuriated House Democrats and prompted them to call on him to recuse himself from the trial. The White House issued a statement after the vote, calling the inquiry a “charade.”
The final roll call in the full House will take place next week. Democratically-controlled House is likely to impeach President Trump, despite a few projected defections.
