Washington DC: The President of the United States, Donald Trump, is impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The President must now face the Senate trial which will decide if he must remain in office or not. Republicans are in a majority in the Senate and is highly unlikely that Trump will lose his job.
Donald Trump becomes the third President in US history to be impeached, the other two being Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.
The charge of abuse of power was passed by 230 votes against 197 and for the charge of obstructing the Congress, it was passed by 229 against 198.
While the voting was underway, Donald Trump was in Michigan attending a campaign rally in which he said, “While we’re creating jobs and fighting for Michigan, the radical left in Congress is consumed with envy and hatred and rage, you see what’s going on.”
A White House statement said that the President was confident that he will be fully exonerated at the Senate trial.
The Republicans have an upper hand in the Senate which will decide the future of Donald Trump. The Republican Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell had said last week that Republican senators will act in total co-ordination with the President’s team during the trial.
The allegations against Donald Trump stems from his attempt to pressurize Ukraine to announce investigations into his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, by promising the Ukrainian leader of military aid. The second accusation is that Trump refused to cooperate with the Congress for the impeachment inquiry. He had withheld documentary evidences and stopped his aides from giving evidence.
