United States Capitol, Washington, DC. © Can Stock Photo / pazhamUnited States Capitol, Washington, DC. © Can Stock Photo / pazham
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House committee drafts articles of impeachment against Trump

A U.S. House committee has taken a historic step toward "indicting" a president of the United States.

The House Judiciary Committee released the drafts of two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, setting the stage for a vote that has only occurred three times in the 243-year history of the United States.

"The House Committee on the Judiciary is introducing two articles of impeachment, charging the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, with committing high crimes and misdemeanours," said New York Congressman Jerry Nadler, committee chairman.

The first article charges the president with abuse of power. Trump is accused of withholding military aid from Ukraine until that country agreed to launch an investigation into former U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Biden is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, and if he is successful, would face Trump in the 2020 general election.

There has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden, and neither man has been charged with a crime.

The second article of impeachment accuses Trump of obstructing Congress. The president is accused of directing members of his administration and White House staff to ignore duly issued subpoenas from Congress requesting information on the Ukraine affair.

California Congressman Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which presided over impeachment hearings, said doing nothing would go against everything the country stood for.

"If allowed to stand, it would decimate Congress' ability to conduct oversight of this president or any in the future, leaving this president and those who follow free to be as corrupt, as they would like," said Schiff as reported by ABC News.

The drafting of the articles sets the stage for a vote by the Judiciary Committee to recommend putting the articles before the full House of Representatives. If either, or both, are approved, this impeaches Trump. The next step would be a trial in the U.S. Senate presided over by John Roberts, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. A two-thirds majority in the Senate is needed to convict Trump and remove him from office.

Republicans in Congress wasted no time responding to their Democratic colleagues. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told The Washington Post that Trump did nothing to warrant impeachment.

"This is the fear that Alexander Hamilton had that came to fruition in this Congress," said McCarthy. "I just hope no Congress ever repeats what we’re going through today."

Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise, the House Minority Whip, also told the Post that the process is nothing but a show of personal dislike toward the president.

"They’re impeaching him because they’re afraid he’ll get re-elected. That’s the abuse of power," said Scalise.

President Trump took to Twitter Tuesday morning to defend himself.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1204414588650807302

A full House vote on the articles may come as soon as next week.

Only twice before has a president been impeached. Andrew Johnson was impeached, then acquitted in the Senate in 1868 for violating the Tenure of Office Act. Bill Clinton was acquitted in 1999 for lying to a grand jury about his affair with a White House intern. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before the full House could vote on articles of impeachment presented over Nixon's handling of the Watergate affair.

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