Washington: A majority of members of the US House of Representatives voted Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power, setting up a Senate trial on removing him from office.
A simple majority is required for the Democratic-controlled House to make the 45th US president the third White House occupant in American history to be impeached.
The House will then vote on the second article of impeachment facing Trump – for obstructing the congressional probe into his attempt to have Ukraine investigate his potential 2020 Democratic presidential opponent Joe Biden.
Meanwhile Democratic candidates on the 2020 presidential debate stage quickly attacked Donald Trump a day after his impeachment. They said Thursday that he is a corrupt president who deserves to be ousted.
“We need to restore the integrity of the presidency,” frontrunner Joe Biden said. Incidentally he is the same person against whom Trump went on a ‘fact-finding’ mission with the help of the Ukraine government.
Biden accused Trump of ‘dumbing down the presidency beyond what I even thought he would do’. The comments came at the top of a televised showdown in the shadow of Trump’s impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
“My job is to go out and make the case why Trump doesn’t deserve to be president of the United States for another four years,” Biden asserted.
Senator Bernie Sanders, second in the standings, blasted Trump as ‘running the most corrupt administration in the modern history of this country’. The president has ‘sold out’ working families, Sanders added.
However, it should be stated here that the spotlight has already turned to the Senate trial, where the president is expected to be acquitted by his Republican majority.
Meanwhile Trump held a triumphant White House meeting Thursday to show off a Democratic congressman defecting to his Republican party, portraying the switch as proof that his impeachment is ‘a hoax’.
Representative Jeff Van Drew, from New Jersey, was one of a handful of Democrats who bucked the party line and opposed Trump’s impeachment Wednesday on two counts.
Trump brought Van Drew to the Oval Office, seating him in one of the armchairs typically used for visiting foreign leaders, and told reporters that ‘Jeff will now be joining the Republican party’.
“It’s a big deal,” Trump said. “I can say I am endorsing him.” Meanwhile Van Drew told Trump: “You have my undying support, always.” Trump, clasping Van Drew’s hand, returned the pledge and said: “Same way here.”
Trump meanwhile continued to be defiant. He said he is not under any pressure.
“I don’t feel like I am being impeached. Americans, will still re-elect me in 2020 because we have the greatest economy in the history of our country. We’’e never done so well,” asserted Trump.
AFP