The House of Representatives has just finished voting on the first article of impeachment against President Trump: abuse of power.
The House voted in favor of impeaching Trump for abuse of power with a 230-197 vote.
Two Democrats (one of which is poised to shortly become a Republican) Collin Peterson and Jeff Van Drew voted against impeachment. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard – one of the Democrats running for president – voted “present”, meaning neither for or against impeachment.
Not even one Republican voted for impeachment.
Next, the House will vote on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress, but the impeachment is set to go to the Senate either way.
Here’s the breaking news:
The Hill has more to say on the impeachment vote:
House Democrats on Wednesday impeached President Trump for abusing his power, the first of two impeachment articles the lower chamber is poised to adopt in historic votes alleging the president is unfit for office.
Lawmakers voted 230-197 to impeach Trump for abusing his power, with two Democrats — Reps. Collin Peterson (Minn.) and Jeff Van Drew (N.J.) — crossing the aisle in dissent. Another Democrat, 2020 White House contender Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) voted present. Republicans, meanwhile, remained unified in their defense of the president, describing the impeachment inquiry as a purely partisan pursuit spearheaded by Democrats still embittered by the results of the 2016 election.
The House is poised to soon take up a second article of impeachment charging Trump with obstruction of Congress, which is also expected to pass easily in a similar party-line vote. Aside from Peterson and Van Drew, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) has also said he’ll oppose the obstruction charge, despite supporting the abuse-of-power article.
The historic vote makes Trump just the third president to be impeached in the nation’s history — and the first to suffer that indignity in his first term.
The vote marked the culmination of the Democrats’ months long investigation into Trump’s handling of foreign policy in Kyiv, triggered in September by a government whistleblower’s allegations that the president had abused his powers in withholding military aid and the promise of a White House meeting to press Ukrainian leaders to launch anti-corruption investigations that might have helped his reelection in 2020.
Business Insider also said:
The Democratic-led House of Representatives voted on Wednesday night to impeach President Donald Trump.
The first article of impeachment against Trump, which charges him with abuse of power, passed the House with a vote of 230-197.
Two Democrats — Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Collin Peterson of Minnesota — voted against the first article of impeachment. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who is currently running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, voted "present."
The second article of impeachment, charging Trump with obstruction of Congress, passed the House after a majority of 216 lawmakers voted in favor of it. The final vote is still coming in, and Insider will update this story with the count.
Wednesday's historic vote came after about 10 hours of debate.
Both articles are related to Trump's efforts to solicit Ukraine's interference in the 2020 election while withholding vital military aid and a White House meeting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky desperately wanted.
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