(NOT MY) pres drumpf / trump brought this on himself. Politically he has been evil, immoral, and corrupt from the time he announced his candidacy for the presidency and his actions and policies have had the active participation and full support of (NOT MY) vice-pres pence and most of the republican party. What they, especially the republican party (since the election of Obama) have done to politics in America is disgraceful, shameful and un-American. We will survive the impeachment of drumpf / trump, but how long will it take for the nation to heal? from NPR.....
President Trump Impeached By The House In Historic Rebuke
December 18, 20198:34 PM ET
Updated at 9:27 p.m. ET
House lawmakers voted to impeach President Trump on Wednesday in only the third such rebuke in American history.
The move triggers a trial for Trump in the Senate, expected in January — one in which majority Republicans are likely to permit him to retain his office.
The vote was 230 to 197 on the first of two articles of impeachment — abuse of power — with one member voting present. The House then passed the second article — obstruction of Congress — with a vote of 229 to 198, with one member voting present.
The vote was largely along party lines. Every Republican opposed impeachment.
The sole independent in the House, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, voted with Democrats.
Two House Democrats — Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey — opposed Article 1. A third Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, joined Peterson and Van Drew to oppose Article 2.
Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is running for president, voted present on both articles.
History months in the making
The House vote follows months of talk by Democrats about impeaching Trump and investigations that deepened profound political division across the country.
Discussions accelerated in September after the discovery that Trump wanted Ukraine to conduct investigations that could help him in the 2020 election.
The White House froze some $391 million in military aid for Ukraine for a time this year but ultimately released it; Ukraine's leaders never agreed to launch investigations that Trump wanted into the 2016 election and the family of former Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump and Republicans said what they called the absence of any real exchange meant there was no crime. In fact, they have argued, the president was doing his duty to investigate what they called "corruption" in a nation long troubled by it.
For Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Trump was caught red-handed in the middle of a shakedown, conditioning dollars appropriated by Congress and his own official acts — an Oval Office meeting — on political favors.
What's more, Democrats argue, Trump obstructed Congress by frustrating its investigation of the Ukraine affair.
Consequences for 2020
The tumultuous frenzy of political life in the Trump era means that it isn't clear how much the events of late 2019 and early 2020 might resonate with voters by the time they cast ballots in the presidential election on Nov. 3.
But the pending election figured prominently in all sides' commentary about whether and how the House should take up impeachment, a question that also fractured Democrats after they gained a majority in the 2018 midterm elections.
Calls to impeach Trump began not long into his presidency.
But Pelosi resisted her most anti-Trump members' desire to impeach, uneasy about the problems that this might cause in the 2020 elections for members in districts that previously had supported Trump.
Revelations about the Ukraine affair, however, convinced so many Democrats that Pelosi, too, got on board, and the chamber voted on Oct. 31 to formally authorize an inquiry.
Trump: Dems ignore my achievements
Trump and his supporters say Democrats despair so badly about their slate of 2020 presidential candidates that they want to nullify the election before it happens by impeaching and attempting to remove Trump.
The president told supporters at a rally in Michigan on Wednesday night that his opponents were ignoring all his success in order to try to hound him from office.
"It doesn't really feel like we're being impeached," Trump said. "The country is doing better than ever before. We did nothing wrong. We did nothing wrong. And we have tremendous support in the Republican Party like we've never had before."
Over the course of around eight hours of debate on Wednesday, the president's supporters also reiterated that they believed not only that there was no wrongdoing but that the process itself was illegitimate.
"This impeachment is a total joke and a total sham," said Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz.
Democrats: We must act now
No, argue Democrats — they are preserving the integrity of an election in which Trump has invited foreign powers to interfere. That's doubly outrageous, they say, following Trump's invitation in 2016 for Russia to interfere in that election, which, subsequent investigations have found, it did.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who led the Democrats' investigation, said that's why the House couldn't wait for a vote or get into what he called legal "rope-a-dope" with Trump in court over witnesses and documents.
"The argument, 'Why don't you just wait?' amounts to this — why don't you just let him cheat in one more election?" Schiff said when Democrats announced the articles of impeachment. "Why not let him cheat just one more time? Why not let him have foreign help just one more time?"
Schiff repeated those arguments on Wednesday evening in his closing statement to the House ahead of its vote.
Next up: Senate trial
The Constitution now calls for a trial in the Senate, over which John Roberts, the chief justice of the United States, must preside.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he'll convene the trial as required and is negotiating with majority Republicans, the White House and minority Democrats about the particulars.
Impeachment, however, is only a quasi-legal process — it is not a strict assessment of whether the president broke the law. It's largely political and has been since President Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868 by a faction then known as the "Radical Republicans."
Accordingly, McConnell said this week that he is not "impartial" and that he would not demur from arranging matters in the best way he sees fit for his ally, the president, and his members in the majority.
One example of this maneuvering: McConnell has decided that the Senate impeachment trial will not include outside witnesses, as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had requested.
Many details aren't settled, however.
McConnell appears most inclined toward a comparatively brief session in which impeachment managers from the House make their case and then the Senate casts a vote on Trump's fate.
Even so, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, an important leader in the Senate, said on Wednesday that he might be open to private depositions of witnesses. Republicans must agree among themselves about the rules of the road before they proceed.
Pelosi wouldn't say on Wednesday evening after the vote when she might transmit the articles of impeachment to McConnell, the formal step required to convene a trial.
The speaker also said she didn't want to name the impeachment managers who would present the House's case to the Senate until she knows more about the "arena" in which Trump's trial would take place.
A question of legacy
The bottom line, however, is that McConnell has said he considers it "inconceivable" that the requisite 20 Republicans could join all the Democrats to vote to remove the president, given how staunchly the GOP has stood behind Trump.
If enough Republicans were to defect, Trump would lose his office with no chance to appeal and Vice President Pence would become the 46th president.
In all likelihood, however, Trump's red wall in the Senate will remain intact and he will preserve the presidency, subject to the outcome of the election in November.
The president told Pelosi in a letter on Tuesday ahead of the House vote that she and Democrats had cheapened and abused their powers under the Constitution.
Democrats argue that the president's actions in the Ukraine affair left them no choice but to act — that what they call his invitation of foreign interference is so egregious that even an impeachment that could be stillborn in the Senate was worth pursuing.
"Impeachment is a form of deterrence," said Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., during the floor debate on Wednesday.
If this was all the House could do, that meant the House had to do it, he said.
"No president ever wants to be impeached. And whether Donald Trump leaves in one month, one year or five years, this impeachment is permanent," Lieu said. "It will follow him around for the rest of his life, and history books will record it. People will know why we impeached."
READ: Articles Of Impeachment Against President Trump
December 10, 201911:11 AM ET
Updated at 11:43 a.m. ET
NPR STAFF
House Democrats announced Tuesday that they will bring two articles of impeachment against President Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
"President Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States," the resolution reads.
After it finalizes the articles, the Judiciary Committee is expected to send them to the full House for a vote on whether to impeach. If the Democratic-led House votes to impeach the president, the Republican-led Senate is expected to hold a trial on whether to remove or acquit the president.
Read the articles, as released by Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. The full text is below.
Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. NADLER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
RESOLUTION
Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Resolved, That Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate:
Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.
ARTICLE I: ABUSE OF POWER
The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives "shall have the sole Power of Impeachment" and that the President "shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors". In his conduct of the office of President of the United States—and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed—Donald J. Trump has abused the powers of the Presidency, in that:
Using the powers of his high office, President Trump solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 United States Presidential election. He did so through a scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States Presidential election to his advantage. President Trump also sought to pressure the Government of Ukraine to take these steps by conditioning official United States Government acts of significant value to Ukraine on its public announcement of the investigations. President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct for corrupt purposes in pursuit of personal political benefit. In so doing, President Trump used the powers of the Presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States and undermined the integrity of the United States democratic process. He thus ignored and injured the interests of the Nation.
President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct through the following means:
(1) President Trump—acting both directly and through his agents Within and Outside the United States Government?corruptly solicited the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into—
(2) With the same corrupt motives, President Trump—acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the United States Government—conditioned two official acts on the public announcements that he had requested—
(3) Faced with the public revelation of his actions, President Trump ultimately released the military and security assistance to the Government of Ukraine, but has persisted in openly and corruptly urging and soliciting Ukraine to undertake investigations for his personal political benefit.
These actions were consistent with President Trump's previous invitations of foreign interference in United States elections.
In all of this, President Trump abused the powers of the Presidency by ignoring and injuring national security and other vital national interests to obtain an improper personal political benefit. He has also betrayed the Nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections.
Wherefore President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE II: OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS
The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives "shall have the sole Power of Impeachment" and that the President "shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors". In his conduct of the office of President of the United States?and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed—Donald J. Trump has directed the unprecedented, categorical, and indiscriminate defiance of subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives pursuant to its "sole Power of Impeachment". President Trump has abused the powers of the Presidency in a manner offensive to, and subversive of, the Constitution, in that:
The House of Representatives has engaged in an impeachment inquiry focused on President Trump's corrupt solicitation of the Government of Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 United States Presidential election. As part of this impeachment inquiry, the Committees undertaking the investigation served subpoenas seeking documents and testimony deemed vital to the inquiry from various Executive Branch agencies and offices, and current and former officials.
In response, without lawful cause or excuse, President Trump directed Executive Branch agencies, offices, and officials not to comply with those subpoenas. President Trump thus interposed the powers of the Presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the House of Representatives, and assumed to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the "sole Power of Impeachment" vested by the Constitution in the House of Representatives.
President Trump abused the powers of his high office through the following means:
(1) Directing the White House to defy a lawful subpoena by withholding the production of documents sought therein by the Committees.
(2) Directing other Executive Branch agencies and offices to defy lawful subpoenas and withhold the production of documents and records from the Committees—in response to which the Department of State, Office of Management and Budget, Department of Energy, and Department of Defense refused to produce a single document or record.
(3) Directing current and former Executive Branch officials not to cooperate with the Committees—in response to which nine Administration officials defied subpoenas for testimony, namely John Michael "Mick" Mulvaney, Robert B. Blair, John A. Eisenberg, Michael Ellis, Preston Wells Griffith, Russell T. Vought, Michael Duffey, Brian McCormack, and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl.
These actions were consistent with President Trump's previous efforts to undermine United States Government investigations into foreign interference in United States elections.
Through these actions, President Trump sought to arrogate to himself the right to determine the propriety, scope, and nature of an impeachment inquiry into his own conduct, as well as the unilateral prerogative to deny any and all information to the House of Representatives in the exercise of its "sole Power of Impeachment". In the history of the Republic, no President has ever ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct and impede so comprehensively the ability of the House of Representatives to investigate "high Crimes and Misdemeanors". This abuse of office served to cover up the President's own repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment—and thus to nullify a vital constitutional safeguard vested solely in the House of Representatives.
In all of this, President Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
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