The United States House of Representatives approved the impeachment of President Donald Trump on Wednesday night (18). Deputies approved two articles to impeach Trump, one for abuse of power and the other for obstruction of Congress.
The trial now goes to the Senate, with a Republican majority, and is expected to begin in January 2020. The United States Senate is the one who decides, by a two-thirds majority, whether or not to remove President Donald Trump from the your job title. This is the third time there has been an impeachment process in American history, but no president has ever been impeached.
The vote was led by the Speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi. Democrats have a majority in the House and approval of the two articles was expected. Democrats claim that Trump committed crimes and misdemeanors by pressuring Ukraine to release compromising data about Trump's main Democratic rival to help his re-election campaign and that he obstructed Congress by hindering investigations into his conduct, accusations that appear, respectively, in the first and in the second articles judged on Wednesday night.
In response, Republicans argue that most Democrats were engaged in a “witch hunt” against a president they fear they cannot defeat.
In the first article, due to abuse of power, there were 230 votes in favor and 197 against impeachment. Among Democrats, two deputies voted against and the only independent deputy in the Chamber voted in favor of the process. All Republicans were against it.
The second article, which deals with obstruction of Congress, had 229 votes in favor and 198 against. Three Democrats voted against impeachment and the independent voted in favor. Again, all Republicans voted against it.