US House votes to impeach President Donald Trump
WASHINGTON, DC, USA (AP) — A majority in the United States House last night voted to impeach President Donald Trump on the charge of abuse of power for enlisting a foreign ally to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election.
Trump has become the third president in US history to be impeached, and the only one in modern times to be running for re-election facing the political equivalent of an indictment, an indelible mark on a purposely disruptive presidency.
Democrats led the voting on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, and were expected to approve another, obstruction of Congress, in what many framed as their duty to protect the American Constitution, to uphold the nation’s system of checks and balances. Republicans stood beside the party’s president who tested the bounds of civic norms by calling the whole affair a “witch hunt”, a “hoax” and a “sham”, and sometimes all three.
