The Impeachment, Explained.
After ten hours of intense debate, The House of Representatives impeached President Donald J. Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The vote, which took place on December 18, went down in history for making Trump the third US president to ever face impeachment and potential removal.
On September 18, The Washington Post reported an anonymous whistleblower complaint from the White House involving alleged corrupt dealings with a foreign leader. Details quickly emerged that Trump supposedly pressured President Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden’s son, who was on the board of a Ukranian energy company, in order to harm Biden’s presidential campaign. In the infamous phone call with Zelensky from July in which Trump asked the Ukranian president to do him a “favor,” which is inferrable to mean withhold over $400 million in financial aid until an investigation of the Bidens. You can read more about it here.
Since Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry three months ago, Congress has been vigorously investigating the President’s relations with Ukraine, and, long story short, we’re here.
There were two articles in which Trump was impeached on: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The first charge over abuse of power virtually means that Trump had overstepped his Presidential rights by making a deal with Ukraine and put national security on the line. According to the official Article, “President Trump abused the powers of the Presidency by ignoring and injuring national security and other vital national interests to obtain a personal benefit.” The House adopted the article in a 230-197 vote, with three Democrats voting in opposition and one, Tulsi Gabbard, abstaining.
The second article was the obstruction of Congress which means that Trump did not abide by Congress’ (or really the Constitution’s) rules and defied their right to impeach. Specifically, Trump directed the White House to defy a subpoena for documents and guided other executive branch agencies and their officials to defy subpoenas. The article reads that “this abuse of office served to cover up the President’s own repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment.” In this vote, one more Democrat voted in opposition and Gabbard abstained again, making the final vote 229-198.
Today, the house votes on whether or not to send articles of impeachment to Senate. If this passes, they will gain control and begin the impeachment trial. In order for Trump to be removed from office, 20 conservative Senators will need to break ranks to reach the two-thirds majority required. Although this seems highly unlikely, if one has learned anything these past three years, it’s that nothing is impossible.
By Annie Levy