How Many Votes to Impeach President in House of Representatives

Trump Impeached for Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress

Voting nearly along political party lines, the Firm approved ii articles of impeachment against President Trump, making him the third president in history to face up removal by the Senate.

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transcript

transcript

Business firm Votes to Impeach Trump

The Democratic-led House of Representatives charged President Trump with abuse of power and obstacle of Congress.

"The yeas are 230, the nays are 197, present is one — Article ane is adopted. The question is on adoption of Article ii. On this vote, the yeas are 229, the nays are 198, present is i — Article 2 is adopted." "I don't know about you, simply I'k having a adept time, it's crazy. Oh, I recall nosotros accept a vote coming in. So we got every single Republican voted for us. Whoa, whoa, wow — wow, about 200. This is the starting time impeachment where there'south no crime. I say, tell me what I did please. Well, we don't know — you violated the Constitution. I'm the get-go person that ever get impeached and at that place'southward no crime. Like, I experience guilty. You know they call it: impeachment lite. Information technology's impeachment calorie-free." "And what is the defence from my colleagues? When you cutting through it all, when yous cutting through all the sound and the fury, signifying goose egg, what it really amounts to is this: Why should nosotros care? We used to care about democracy. We used to care almost our allies. Nosotros used to stand up to Putin and Russia. Nosotros used to." "I'll tell you what, Madam Speaker, let me have just a few minutes, cease the clock, and let me go around to the press corps and everybody here and I'thou going to charge yous of something. Y'all did it. You did it. Y'all did it. You did it. Now show it'southward incorrect. You did it. Gauge what: You don't want to, because deep down yous know that that's turning the entire jurisprudence of this land upside downward. You're not guilty until y'all prove it — y'all're innocent. And today from this flooring, we have heard the majority leader say this president is guilty and non the other mode effectually." "This impeachment is permanent. It will follow him around for the residuum of his life and history books will record it. And the people know why we impeached. It'due south all very simple. No i is above the law." "Unfortunately, many of my colleagues have diminished what should be a solemn and grave proceeding into an accented political circus." "If you think I exaggerate in warning that our elections tin can be undermined, I'd urge you to come down to Georgia, find a black human or woman of a certain age, and they'll tell you: The danger is real." "Then this vote, this day, is about one matter and 1 affair only: They hate this president."

The Democratic-led House of Representatives charged President Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Credit Credit... Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Published Dec. xviii, 2019 Updated Feb. x, 2021

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Wednesday impeached President Trump for abuse of power and obstacle of Congress, making him the third president in history to be charged with committing loftier crimes and misdemeanors and face removal by the Senate.

On a day of constitutional consequence and raging partisan tension, the votes on the ii articles of impeachment fell largely along party lines, after a bitter fence that stretched into the evening and reflected the deep polarization gripping American politics in the Trump era.

Only two Democrats opposed the article on abuse of ability, which defendant Mr. Trump of corruptly using the levers of regime to solicit election help from Ukraine in the form of investigations to discredit his Democratic political rivals. Republicans were united in opposition. It passed 230 to 197, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi gaveling the vote to a close from the House rostrum.

On the second accuse, obstruction of Congress, a third Democrat joined Republicans in opposition. The vote was 229 to 198.

The impeachment votes set the stage for a historic trial beginning early side by side year in the Senate, which will accept terminal say — 10 months earlier Mr. Trump faces re-election — on whether to acquit the 45th president or convict and remove him from office. The timing was uncertain, after Ms. Pelosi suggested belatedly Wednesday that she might wait to ship the articles to the Senate, holding them out equally leverage in a negotiation on the terms of a trial.

Acquittal in the Republican-controlled chamber may be likely, merely the proceeding is certain to farther beal the political and cultural fault lines in the state that Mr. Trump's presidency has brought into dramatic relief. Regardless of the issue, the impeachment votes in the House put an indelible stain on Mr. Trump'south presidency that cannot be wiped from the public consciousness with a avalanche of tweets or an angry tirade in front end of thousands of his cheering supporters at a campaign rally.

On Wednesday, Democrats characterized his impeachment equally an urgent action to stop a corrupt president whose misdeeds had unfolded in plainly view from damaging the United States any further.

"Over the course of the last three months, we have found incontrovertible prove that President Trump abused his ability by pressuring the newly elected president of Ukraine to denote an investigation into President Trump'due south political rival," said Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and the Intelligence Commission chairman, who led the impeachment inquiry.

"The president and his men plot on," Mr. Schiff said. "The danger persists. The take chances is existent. Our democracy is at peril."

Far from showing contrition or contemplating resignation, every bit his predecessors have done in the face of impeachment, Mr. Trump instead offered an indignant defense equally the House weighed his fate, raging on Twitter from the White Firm.

Epitome

Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times

"SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO Zero DEMOCRATS," the president wrote as the argue took place on the other stop of Pennsylvania Avenue. "THIS IS AN Assail ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!"

Subsequently, as members cast their votes to impeach him in Washington, Mr. Trump took the phase to roars of adulation from his supporters at an arena-style campaign rally in Boxing Creek, Mich. He brushed bated the ramble confrontation every bit a "hoax" based on unfounded charges, fifty-fifty as he conceded that it would be a permanent absorb on his presidency.

"I'm not worried," Mr. Trump said. "You don't do annihilation wrong and you lot get impeached. That may be a record that will last forever."

"Only you know what they take washed?" he said of Democrats. "They accept cheapened the impeachment process."

Senators, he added, "are going to exercise the right thing."

Mind to 'The Daily': The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump

In a divided House, moderate Democrats are begetting the burden of answering for the impeachment vote.

transcript

transcript

Listen to 'The Daily': The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump

Hosted by Michael Barbaro; produced by Lisa Grub, Austin Mitchell, Adizah Eghan, Annie Brown and Theo Balcomb, with help from Alexandra Leigh Young; and edited past Lisa Tobin and M.J. Davis Lin

In a divided House, moderate Democrats are bearing the brunt of answering for the impeachment vote.

michael barbaro

From The New York Times, I'g Michael Barbaro. This is "The Daily."

Today: The United States House of Representatives has impeached President Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. My colleague Lisa Grub and I on the story of how a fractious Autonomous Political party, which started the year divided on impeachment, ultimately united around it.

It's Thursday, December 19.

lisa chow

And how far away from Holly?

speaker

35 miles from the habitation.

lisa chow

O.One thousand. So aye, we will become there in time. You desire to describe what you're seeing outside the window?

michael barbaro

And so nosotros're driving past a strip mall about 45 minutes outside Detroit. There's a Best Buy, a Michaels, a PetSmart, a Lowes, Chipotle and a DSW. This is a solid, solid, solid strip mall.

lisa chow

So Michael, why are we driving through the strip malls of Detroit?

michael barbaro

Then we are headed to the habitation of Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin.

archived recording

Elissa Slotkin has a lead of more than than 2,000 votes confronting Republican incumbent Mike Bishop.

michael barbaro

She is a moderate Democrat who won her seat —

archived recording (elissa slotkin)

I won in a district that was a Republican district. And then the only way —

michael barbaro

She flipped a scarlet district and turned it blue in 2018. And in doing and so, she helped the Democrats win back the House.

archived recording

The blue moving ridge. The blue wave that swept Democrats into power in the House.

michael barbaro

Only the moment she gets into office —

archived recording (rashida tlaib)

Considering we're going to go in in that location, nosotros're going to impeach the motherfucker. [CHEERS]

michael barbaro

— people like Rashida Tlaib, the congresswoman who represents a district just to the south here that nosotros just collection through, they're saying that the findings of the Russian federation research merit impeachment. And Slotkin is not having any of it.

archived recording

Important quote. This is from Congresswoman Slotkin of Michigan. Impeachment is non what people are coming upward to me in the grocery store and talking to me about. They want to know —

michael barbaro

She is skeptical of that, she'south opposed to it. It's not part of her political make to desire to impeach the president. Then all all of a sudden, the whistle-blower report comes out, and she reads it, and she's very troubled. And she and a scattering of her moderate swing-district Democratic House colleagues write an op-ed in The Washington Postal service calling for an impeachment research.

archived recording

They write, we have devoted our lives to the service and security of our country. Now we join as a unified group to uphold —

michael barbaro

And their voice carries a tremendous corporeality of weight, because they are moderates, because they helped win dorsum the House for Democrats. And shortly afterwards, Firm Speaker Nancy Pelosi opens an impeachment inquiry.

archived recording (nancy pelosi)

I'chiliad announcing the Business firm of Representatives is moving frontward with an official impeachment enquiry. The president must be held answerable. No one is above the constabulary.

michael barbaro

And right away, it'southward articulate that there are political consequences for Slotkin.

elissa slotkin

I am going to await for the facts. I'thousand going to look at them judiciously. I'one thousand going to do what I was trained to do, which is to await at the —

michael barbaro

Nosotros went to three boondocks halls in her district and just listened every bit constituents pelted her with questions about why she was doing this.

crowd

[JEERING]

michael barbaro

Two months go by. The impeachment enquiry unfolds. Hearings happen, a report is filed. And now she has to make a decision — is she going to vote to impeach the president, or is she going to vote non to the impeach the president?

lisa chow

Whoa, we're going into her driveway.

michael barbaro

Nosotros're doing it. I think it's O.K. I mean, we're a lilliputian early. What're you gonna practice? We are arriving at Slotkin's house in the center of these final hours of deliberation for her on impeachment. She has told her constituents that she's going to announce her decision on Monday morning. We are talking to her on Sunday night.

lisa chow

How do you feel?

michael barbaro

I feel good. I mean, I experience dehydrated. Did you actually eat your granola bar?

lisa chow

I did not eat my granola bar. Difficult to swallow and hold a microphone.

michael barbaro

You're going to regret information technology when you're in the middle of this interview and you're starving.

elissa slotkin

Howdy, guys. Come on in.

michael barbaro

Hi.

elissa slotkin

I'grand Elissa.

michael barbaro

Congresswoman, so squeamish to come across you lot.

elissa slotkin

So prissy to meet you. Hi.

michael barbaro

Thank you for letting united states of america — Lisa.

elissa slotkin

Come on in, come on in.

michael barbaro

This is a truly a farmhouse.

elissa slotkin

Oh yeah, I'grand sorry, I'thou sorry. I recall of you guys as audio, and and then I'm not doing a very prissy chore, but this is 1895 farmhouse. My family unit bought it in the '50s. We held off lighting a fire because we didn't know if the noise would be annoying, simply we can definitely lite a burn down.

And this — I should only say, this desk, for whatever information technology's worth, is sort of i of the big heirlooms in my family. This was my great-grandfather'south desk. And if you encounter on the plate here —

michael barbaro

It is kind of a resolute desk.

elissa slotkin

Yep. So information technology was used by Lindley Garrison, secretary of war, 1913 to 1916.

michael barbaro

During the presidency of Woodrow Wilson.

elissa slotkin

Yes.

michael barbaro

Geez.

elissa slotkin

So that was a souvenir to my great-grandfather, Sam Slotkin. And it's been passed downwards.

michael barbaro

Is this where you lot get to make big decisions?

elissa slotkin

This is where I make my big decisions.

michael barbaro

Is this that — this 3-band binder looks like it's the Firm Intelligence report?

elissa slotkin

Aye. This is — well, it'due south a lot, I guess, more it. It is — let's run into. My team has diligently tabbed it out for me. So this is the impeachment documents that came down, I gauge, what now, three weeks ago —

michael barbaro

From the Judiciary Committee.

elissa slotkin

Yes, from the Judiciary Committee. This is the HPSCI report, the House Intelligence written report.

michael barbaro

May I see this?

elissa slotkin

Yous're welcome to.

michael barbaro

Clinton articles of impeachment. Nixon articles of impeachment. And I see you lot've done a agglomeration of underlining.

elissa slotkin

Yeah. For me, this is, bluntly, a very standard way that I expect at things, which just comes from my training as a C.I.A. officer, which is sequester yourself away, get all the original base documents. And then you exercise some historical research so make an objective decision not based on what you come across in the news or what someone'south telling yous.

michael barbaro

Thank you for letting u.s.a. interrupt it.

elissa slotkin

Where would you guys like to gear up upwardly? Would you like to be —

michael barbaro

Where would you like us to set?

elissa slotkin

Have the dining room.

michael barbaro

All right, we'll get set up ourselves up.

elissa slotkin

Sure.

lisa chow

O.K., check, check, bank check, check.

michael barbaro

How am I sounding? O.K. And so, Congresswoman, cheers for letting us into your home —

elissa slotkin

Of course.

michael barbaro

— during a really important moment for you.

elissa slotkin

Yeah.

michael barbaro

The terminal fourth dimension we talked to you, you lot had just made a decision to back up an impeachment enquiry, which concluded upwards being a very consequential decision.

elissa slotkin

Aye.

michael barbaro

Tell me what the last couple of months have been like for you as that inquiry has unfolded. What's that experience been like?

elissa slotkin

Well, I would say it'due south probably been some of the most intense months I've had as a working professional, that's for sure. The primary reason why I decided to come out back in September in support of an inquiry, later many, many months of not supporting impeachment or an research, was this very basic thought that the president of the United States reached out to a foreign political party and solicited help in influencing an American election. And confirming or denying that very basic idea was pretty important to me in this process.

michael barbaro

That fact pattern.

elissa slotkin

That fact pattern. And you know, I was in national security for a long fourth dimension. We are in the business of pressuring governments to do things that we want, correct? That happens all the time. And anyone who gets to a senior-enough level has been in that position. The difference hither was that the president was doing it for his own personal political gain, not for the national security interests of the United states of america. So for me, the central idea was whether the president asked for foreigners to get involved in the American political process.

michael barbaro

And then did the inquiry and did the hearings establish that?

elissa slotkin

Well, that'due south what I've been trying to parse through. What became clearer and clearer through what I read and what the reporting produced was that yous have a lot of people who were aware that, for instance, security assist was held up in exchange for something. And we have Ambassador Sondland saying very directly that it was held up because they were waiting for the Ukrainians to live up to their stop of the deal.

michael barbaro

To conduct these investigations on —

elissa slotkin

Yes, to announce investigations. That's the hardest matter for me about my peers who may decide not to vote on these articles, is that exercise they have that it's O.Thousand. to invite foreign help into the American political procedure?

michael barbaro

I think I just watched Lindsey Graham say that he's O.Grand. with information technology in an interview.

elissa slotkin

Well, I'm lamentable, and I think that history will testify them to be misguided. And mayhap it's considering I was a C.I.A. officer, only I am comfortable making hard decisions that aren't popular, considering I know that they're the right thing for the security of the country. I was asked to practice that over and over and over again in my prior life. And that's the same approach I have to these decisions.

michael barbaro

I hear you hinting that a hard determination that you're capable of making may be heading in one direction.

elissa slotkin

Well, listen, I mean, no offense, merely I'thou not going to tell The New York Times before I tell my ain constituents. Information technology'south why we're having a large boondocks hall tomorrow. My hope and my responsibleness is to be transparent with the constituents of the Eighth District, to be available to mind to their current concerns and answer them, and to be honest with them.

michael barbaro

So understanding that you're not going to be disclosing your intentions just now at this table in your business firm, I desire to talk nigh your constituents for just a moment.

elissa slotkin

Sure.

michael barbaro

Based on my understanding of your district, which voted for Trump by a healthy margin, and according to you, does not seem to support impeachment as a whole, you lot could find yourself very much at odds with your own constituents.

elissa slotkin

I hateful —

michael barbaro

Are you comfortable with that?

elissa slotkin

This is what it means to be an elected leader. Y'all accept to make tough calls. And in a district similar this, I'm never going to make everyone happy. If I lose my seat because I stood up for my principles, that's O.Yard. I, of course, want to exist re-elected, and I want to maintain the House majority. I remember information technology'southward an important check and remainder. Simply I'm not going to compromise my principles only to keep that task. I'g just non. And I hope that people want that kind of an elected representative.

michael barbaro

I do have to inquire you the kind of political version of this question, which is mathematically, your vote isn't required to impeach the president. So there're kind of two ways to expect at this. On the i hand, if you vote yes, that would be very politically risky. The other mode to expect at this is that if y'all vote no, that's its own set of risks, because as a moderate, you would be sending a message that the people in the middle who started all this, who said there should exist an inquiry, don't recall in that location'southward enough there to actually impeach. And that would be a very complicated message to send in 2022 when the president's running for re-election. It's essentially that impeachment was a project of the far left. And so there's basically a ton of adventure no matter what you exercise, and I wonder how you weigh those risks.

elissa slotkin

Well, I hateful, listen, voting on articles of impeachment is right upward there with Congress'south office in declaring war. I hateful, it's got to exist i of the top two things that a member of Congress volition always vote on in their career — nigh important things. So when yous have a vote like that, it's beyond that political calculus. I think information technology should be. Information technology certainly is for me. And I've certainly had people propose to me, you know, just vote no, salve your seat.

michael barbaro

Your vote isn't needed, anyway.

elissa slotkin

I've had people say that to me.

michael barbaro

And what do you say?

elissa slotkin

I have to look at myself in the mirror. Like, I have to come away from this experience with a sense that I haven't done what so many people here in Michigan think of elected officials. I cannot merely become that cynical political person who just orients their major decisions around what would save their seat. I just —

michael barbaro

Or even their party.

elissa slotkin

You know, we take the president admitting that he reached out to a greenhorn to ask for help in an American political election. If y'all retrieve nearly that exterior the normal insanity that we have correct at present on TV and all the events that are happening, if you lot call back about that, which I've been trying to do today here quietly at my subcontract, that is — that is incorrect. And I call up that sending a signal in the most clear terms we can is important enough fifty-fifty to risk the majority.

michael barbaro

So it's 7:30 on Sunday night and you lot're planning to make an announcement tomorrow morning in front of your constituents. How are you doing inside? How are you feeling?

elissa slotkin

I actually feel pretty clear. I've done the work. I've kept an open up mind, and I've sat with the documents, I've saturday with the transcripts, and I've fabricated my best assessment. So I'm going to try and be as nowadays and available as I tin can. I trust my voters, I exercise. And I think —

michael barbaro

Trust them to do what?

elissa slotkin

I trust them as Michiganders to requite me a hazard to explain. And for them to give me the do good of the uncertainty.

[music]

michael barbaro

I wish you the best of luck tomorrow.

elissa slotkin

Thank you. Thanks very much.

michael barbaro

Thank you.

michael barbaro

We'll be correct back

crowd

Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elissa Slotkin has got to go! Hey hey, ho ho — got to go! Hey hey, ho ho.

michael barbaro

So Lisa, I headed dorsum to New York to host the show. You lot stayed in Michigan. So what happens the side by side day, after we had talked to Elissa Slotkin?

lisa chow

So the adjacent 24-hour interval, I get in very early, and already there are people there.

crowd

Ho ho, Elissa Slotkin has got to go!

lisa chow

And they're upset, they're pissed. And that's considering Slotkin had already announced her decision in the local newspaper that morning.

michael barbaro

Of course, we had both understood from the interview where this was going.

lisa grub

Yep, but she hadn't yet told her constituents. And so in this op-ed, she says very clearly that she is voting yes on both manufactures of impeachment.

speaker 1

She must go now!

speaker 2

Country over party! Impeach and remove Trump!

lisa chow

So people are lining up to go within the auditorium where the boondocks hall coming together will be held. And outside, at that place was a bunch of protesters with big signs proverb, "Impeach Slotkin, keep Trump," in bright cherry-red letters. And some of them are carrying much smaller signs that say, "We have your dorsum."

michael barbaro

Which is a message to Slotkin.

lisa grub

Exactly.

speaker 1

Practise y'all sympathise that?

speaker two

You're yelling.

speaker 1

Do you similar Russians?

lisa grub

I mean, very chop-chop, people first yelling at each other.

speaker 1

Because I have to discuss your people. Do you lot similar Russia? Do you like Russia? Considering I'k a veteran, and I do non support Russian federation!

speaker ii

Have a word.

speaker 1

The fact is you walked up to me and y'all asked me most Ukraine, which is a Russian —

lisa chow

The 1 exchange that I establish particularly memorable was this veteran —

speaker i

You lot're continuing here equally an American, as an American, talking —

lisa grub

The pro-Slotkin person who got very emotional. And she basically said, you're spouting Russian talking points to me, to say that Ukraine interfered in our ballot.

speaker 1

Our flag is red, white and blue, non red and blue. It is reddish, white, and blue. Put your country kickoff for once, O.Chiliad.?

speaker two

I am. Would you like to discuss? See?

lisa chow

And and then people are really challenging each other's patriotism.

speaker one

What, what? Ukraine did what? What did Ukraine do? Tell me what Ukraine did.

speaker 2

Are you gonna listen? Biden bragged nearly — about bribing Ukraine with a billion dollars. Practise you want to hear it?

lisa grub

They're merely looking at the facts in a totally different fashion.

speaker 2

What crime? Proper name one. Proper noun one crime. You lot jumped in, I'g listening. Proper noun 1 crime.

speaker 3

Abuse of power.

speaker 2

That's not — O.Chiliad., that — proper name what exactly did he exercise to abuse — to corruption power?

Say one.

speaker 4

Having a foreign country meddle in the election. That's one.

speaker 2

He didn't! The Democrats did!

speaker four

Y'all really are insane, aren't you lot? Open up your eyes.

lisa chow

O.K. Then.

lisa chow

Finally, nosotros head into the auditorium, and it's a large room.

lisa chow

People are registering, and then walking into the auditorium.

lisa chow

The room is packed.

lisa chow

How many chairs are here?

speaker

418. So we gear up upward for virtually 400 people.

lisa chow

O.K. Information technology's filling up.

lisa chow

There are tons of media, national and local press covering this event.

lisa chow

Can you tell me where you're from?

speaker i

The Flint Journal and mlive.com.

speaker 2

MIRS news.

speaker 3

I'm here for NPR today.

speaker 4

Simone from Ringlet Call.

speaker v

The Detroit Free Printing.

speaker 6

The Oakland Press.

speaker vii

Detroit News.

speaker 8

The New York Times.

speaker 9

Huffington Mail service.

speaker x

Washington Mail.

speaker xi

Associated Press.

speaker 12

The Michigan Advance.

speaker xiii

CNN.

lisa chow

And information technology'due south clear that this is the story, which is moderate Democrats and their vulnerability in this vote that they're taking.

speaker

Let'due south please welcome to the stage Congresswoman Slotkin.

michael barbaro

And then what happens next?

lisa chow

She's introduced by one of her staffers, and she takes the stage.

crowd

[CHEERING AND JEERING]

lisa chow

Immediately, the crowd erupts in both cheers and boos.

elissa slotkin

O.1000., guys. O.K.

speaker

All right, everybody. Thank you.

elissa slotkin

O.K., well, I'one thousand thrilled to see such a dandy turnout today.

speaker

Let's please — please let her speak.

crowd

[YELLING]

lisa grub

And she basically can't become a discussion in.

speaker

Let's please respect the people around yous who are here to listen.

lisa chow

There is a very loud grouping in the corner of the room that is making it almost impossible for her to exist heard past the residue of the room.

elissa slotkin

So in an effort to exist transparent, I'm going to walk you through my logic. And I know it's clear that we don't all hold. I thought we needed to allow the ballot of 2022 make up one's mind what was going to happen in our country. But those changed — that changed for me on the very bones facts that the president of the United states of america came out — and his lawyer came out and said, very specifically —

lisa chow

And they're screaming all sorts of things, similar —

speaker

Liar! Liar!

lisa chow

Liar, shame on you.

elissa slotkin

And that is very different than how presidents typically build their power, right? To be honest with you, I worked at the National Security Quango under George Bush. I worked under the National Security Council under Barack Obama. And presidents regularly wield their ability.

michael barbaro

Then the Michiganders don't quite requite her the chance to explain herself that she told us she'd been hoping for.

lisa chow

Not really.

elissa slotkin

They regularly leverage their position to influence other countries. That'south a normal part of what a president does. But what was fundamentally different for me is that the president —

lisa chow

And there's i guy in particular in the back —

speaker

The Democrats are run by "the team"!

lisa grub

— who screams —

speaker

The Democrats are run past the squad!

lisa chow

— you're function of the team.

speaker

Democrats are the party of the squad!

lisa chow

The team runs the Democrats.

michael barbaro

Right, the 4 best-known Firm freshmen liberals.

lisa chow

Exactly. And at one point, he even gets up and yells —

speaker

You belong to Rashida!

lisa chow

Yous belong to Rashida. And what's so fascinating about this moment is that when we started reporting at the beginning of this year on the freshman grade of Democrats, it was exactly that conflation that people like Elissa Slotkin were trying to avert.

michael barbaro

Right.

lisa chow

Because they knew the Republicans would try to lump all the Democrats together as Trump-antisocial left-fly progressives.

michael barbaro

Correct. They would try to make a Slotkin and a Tlaib duplicate, even though they're very different.

[music]

lisa chow

Exactly. And Slotkin has been so cautious in this process. She'south been thorough. She has had conscientious reasoning. Merely none of that matters in this moment. She is Rashida Tlaib, co-ordinate to those protesters.

speaker i

Practice you stand for your party or practise you stand up for your Constitution?

speaker 2

Let her say that. Allow her say that. That she is not a part of the squad!

speaker i

She did!

speaker 2

No, she should did non! She has to say! Permit her say that! Let her say that!

lisa chow

I think that's exactly what gets nether Slotkin's skin — this feeling of non beingness understood in the way that she understands herself. That no matter what she says, no matter what she believes, a significant number of her constituents are just going to see her as this kind of caricature of a Democrat. And they're never going to hold with her, and she'south not going to be able to get through to them. You lot could tell from her vocalism that perchance, y'all know, she expected this. Possibly this scene didn't surprise her. Merely information technology's still hard.

speaker

All right, everyone. Thank you very much for coming out today. Please exit safely.

elissa slotkin

Thank you lot. Thank you for listening. Appreciate it. Cheers for beingness skillful citizens.

lisa chow

And then the auditorium is cleared out. Now that's over. And I judge next, we're headed to Washington to comprehend the bodily vote.

michael barbaro

We'll exist right back.

michael barbaro

Did you bring water? Or did I just, like — idiotically, I left my water on the other side of the Capitol. It's O.K. It's OK. Information technology'south OK.

lisa grub

O.Grand. So Michael, where are we right at present?

michael barbaro

And then nosotros're in the U.S. Capitol, standing only exterior the House bedroom. You lot can kind of run into it through these double doors. And inside that chamber —

archived recording

House will be in order.

michael barbaro

There'due south about six more hours of debate happening. A lot of it very predictable. Democrats are saying —

archived recording

No 1 is above the police.

michael barbaro

That after great care and lots of prayer —

archived recording

Today, sadly, we are voting to impeach President Donald John Trump.

michael barbaro

They're taking a principled vote to impeach the president. Republicans are saying —

archived recording

They detest this president.

michael barbaro

— Democrats have made something out of absolutely nothing, and that this is a sham.

archived recording

They think Hillary Clinton should exist president, and they desire to gear up that.

michael barbaro

And I'm kind of imagining Elissa Slotkin in there preparing for a monumental vote that a lot of people in her district have only said they don't want her to take. Only in that location's actually somebody else and I have been thinking about.

michael barbaro

Congresswoman.

rashida tlaib

Hi, Michael. How's it going?

michael barbaro

And that'southward Rashida Tlaib. Because she has been talking well-nigh impeachment from the beginning.

rashida tlaib

Howdy.

michael barbaro

Hi.

rashida tlaib

How are you?

michael barbaro

I'm good.

rashida tlaib

Good.

michael barbaro

You look well.

rashida tlaib

Yeah. Today is something that I've been talking to my 14-year-quondam about, Adam. He's then funny. Before he went to school, I had a conversation with him.

michael barbaro

What did you say?

rashida tlaib

Oh, simply, you know, told you mommy is going to follow through on making sure the bully is not going to remain using the about powerful position in the world to his personal proceeds and personal profit. I desire him to notwithstanding believe that people have the ability, and that the truth ever prevails. And so I feel like this gets us closer to that.

michael barbaro

And so a lot of the focus in this impeachment vote has been on the moderates who are putting themselves at political risk in taking this vote. I'm mindful that it was in January of this year that you came into part and pretty much immediately generated a little fleck of news by calling for the impeachment of the president, long before Speaker Pelosi and many of the moderate Democrats were ready to accept that action. I think I was really here with you in the Capitol when that happened. And we had talked at that indicate about the fear that you and other progressive freshmen in the House might push the party to left in a way that could jeopardize those moderate colleagues. And now here we are, right? So I wonder what you make of that journeying of the whole House Democratic delegation?

rashida tlaib

Yous know, I don't like it when people say we're moving folks to the left or moving folks to the right. We're moving folks towards the truth. To me, that's nonpartisan. The fact of the thing is something was wrong here. Children were being caged at the border. He was profiting off of existence a sitting C.E.O. in the White Business firm. There was a number of impeachable offenses earlier I fifty-fifty got here, and these are things that I was hearing from my residents all the time.

michael barbaro

But that's non what today is about.

rashida tlaib

Oh, of course non. You know, ane of the things I said after this happened, later on, you lot know, the Ukraine telephone call happened, is that that'southward what got us to 218. I mean, look, I am non a person that pushed this opinion of what was happening from the White Business firm onto my colleagues. That was not my intention. My intention was to serve the residents of the Thirteenth Commune. They elected me out of a number of candidates, saying that this is besides about electing the jury that volition hold this president answerable. And that's exactly what I did from solar day 1. For many of my colleagues, they didn't run on this issue, correct? Only, I mean, the time has found us, as Speaker Pelosi kept saying. And it's very true, I think many were very hesitant, but the Ukraine call took them over the edge, for many of these folks.

michael barbaro

Well, let me talk about one of these districts, because earlier this week, Lisa and I went to Michigan, your state. Nosotros drove through your commune on the way to the district of ane of your colleagues, Elissa Slotkin, who flipped her seat from Republican to Democrat. And the threat to her seat and the anger of constituents who at present know she's going to be voting for impeachment, it was really apparent right abroad. At that place was a lot of fury directed at her.

rashida tlaib

Yeah, I hateful, I think, Michael, it's actually important for folks to know Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin'southward district is so different from mine.

michael barbaro

Right.

rashida tlaib

And she has to stand for her commune. I recollect for my residents and I, there'southward a sense of liberation. They've been calling with excitement of finally some sense of accountability. I retrieve when we see injustices, we see things that only don't make any sense, we experience like it's hurting the country, hurting people, that people are actually in true, existent emotional pain from things around the racist abuse of power to fifty-fifty threats to our national security. It creates so much anxiety around the country. And for folks, they simply want to feel like somebody is fighting for them. That somebody here has their back.

michael barbaro

This feels like a moment of that for them?

rashida tlaib

Yes. I recollect they desire people to speak up. It's like, why aren't they saying anything? Why aren't people doing anything about information technology? Isn't that illegal? Shouldn't those folks be in jail? You lot know, these are the kinds of things I hear from my residents all the fourth dimension. Then for today, it is very much an incredible moment that they finally feel a sense that they are believed. And then yeah, that's the 1 matter. I respect that she has a dissimilar district than mine. I don't impose my stance onto her district, and I retrieve she doesn't practise the same to mine.

michael barbaro

Permit me create a picture for y'all and I want to know what you think of it. The Firm flips, Democrats lose it, the president is impeached, only just in the House, non in the Senate. Is it worth information technology? Is it worth information technology?

rashida tlaib

Yes! Why isn't it worth it? It is protecting our future. Do you know — if nosotros always decided to part from political strategy, we wouldn't go things washed. Would the Affordable Care Human activity pass? It wasn't perfect, but yous know what? We really saved lives. And some people couldn't come back because they voted for that. Simply if we were to go back, do we want to do it all again? Yeah, we would. We would, to salvage people's lives. And for usa, this is about saving our democracy. And sometimes that means putting our neck out. And yes, they're going to use this against the states and try to vilify what we tried to do, which is put our country first.

michael barbaro

Isn't that easier to say when you're from a —

rashida tlaib

Absolutely it is.

michael barbaro

— blueish district?

rashida tlaib

Just don't think my life hasn't been threatened. Don't think that the commencement actual coffee hour I had, I didn't have the same protesters that Elissa Slotkin had that said, impeach Rashida Tlaib. I have three people now getting prosecuted for threatening my life. Y'all know, I feel like, in many ways, my life has completely been transformed because I volition not stand downward. I volition non allow this corrupt president to corruption his power, nor put people in the pain that they are going through correct now, because he decided to obstruct Congress. That he decided that he doesn't actually care about the process, and the rules, and the laws. You don't take over the Us of America. You go elected, and y'all serve it. And so nosotros're going to served the United States of America today by holding this president accountable and setting a very clear message that we won't let this danger precedent in our history to go along. Because information technology could be a Democrat or a Republican downward the line that would do the same and get abroad with it. And that, to me, is what is at stake more than being in the majority or winning an election.

michael barbaro

I know you take to go. I want to thanks for spending the last year with united states.

rashida tlaib

Yeah, of course. Thank you and so much. Information technology's been an incredible journeying.

michael barbaro

And letting usa tell your story.

rashida tlaib

Thank you. Thank you lot, Michael. I'm speaking on the floor, and so —

michael barbaro

Expert luck with your speech.

rashida tlaib

Thanks.

michael barbaro

Bye.

rashida tlaib

Capeesh information technology.

archived recording (jerry nadler)

Madame Speaker, I now yield one minute to the gentlelady from Michigan, Miss Tlaib.

archived recording (diana degette)

The gentlelady is recognized for one minute.

archived recording (rashida tlaib)

Thank you. I rise today in support of impeachment.

I learned so much every single day from my residents at domicile. Their mutual sense and agreement of what is right and wrong is centered on why they oppose any person using the well-nigh powerful position in the earth for personal gain. Doing nothing here, Madame Speaker, is not an option. Looking away from these crimes confronting our country is non an option. This is nigh protecting the hereafter of our nation and our democracy from corruption, abuse of power, criminal cover-ups and bribery. And this, Madame Speaker, this vote is also for my sons and the hereafter of so many generations. So I urge my colleagues to please vote yes on these articles of impeachment. With that, Madame Speaker, I yield.

archived recording (diana degette)

Gentleman from Georgia.

archived recording (doug collins)

Thanks, Madame Speaker.

michael barbaro

Shortly after 8:00 p.chiliad. on Wednesday night, the House voted on the first article of impeachment confronting President Trump — abuse of ability.

archived recording (nancy pelosi)

On this vote, the yeas are 230, the nays are 197. Present is one. Article 1 is adopted.

michael barbaro

Soon after, a vote was held on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress.

archived recording (nancy pelosi)

On this vote, the yeas are 229, the nays are 198. Present is 1. Commodity 2 is adopted.

michael barbaro

With that, Donald J. Trump became the 3rd president in American history to be impeached by the Business firm of Representatives.

archived recording (donald trump)

With today's illegal, unconstitutional and partisan impeachment —

archived recording (crowd)

[BOOING]

archived recording (donald trump)

— the exercise-nothing Democrats, and they are do-nothing, all they want to do is focus on this. What they could be doing are declaring their deep hatred and disdain for the American voter.

michael barbaro

During a rally in Michigan as the House voted, President Trump described the impeachment vote as an set on on his supporters and predicted that it would backfire on Democrats at the polls.

archived recording (donald trump)

This lawless, partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat political party. Have y'all seen my polls in the final 4 weeks?

archived recording (crowd)

[Auspicious]

archived recording (donald trump)

It's crazy.

michael barbaro

That'south it for "The Daily." I'1000 Michael Barbaro. Meet you tomorrow.

Despite years of speculation, Mr. Trump's impeachment did not, in the cease, grow out of the ii-twelvemonth investigation into Russian ballot meddling by Robert Due south. Mueller Three, the special counsel, or the seemingly endless series of other accusations of abuse and misconduct that have plagued this White House: tax evasion, profiting from the presidency, payoffs to a pornographic film actress and fraudulent activities by his charitable foundation.

Instead, the existential threat to Mr. Trump's presidency centered around a half-hour phone call in July. On information technology, he pressured Ukraine's president to announce investigations into former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and other Democrats at the aforementioned time he was withholding nearly $400 one thousand thousand in vital war machine assistance for the country and a White Firm coming together.

Congress learned about the call afterwards an anonymous C.I.A. official lodged a whistle-blower complaint in August — pulling a string that helped unravel an endeavour by the president and his allies to pressure a foreign regime for help in smearing a political rival. Over a flow of weeks this autumn, a parade of diplomats and other administration officials confirmed and expanded on those revelations.

When Congress sought to investigate, the president ordered his administration to defy its every request, leading to what the House said Midweek was a violation of the separation of powers and a de facto assertion by Mr. Trump that he was above the constabulary.

United in their opposition, Republicans accused the Democrats, who fought their fashion back from political oblivion in 2022 to win the House in 2018, of misusing the ability voters had invested in them to harangue a president they never viewed as legitimate by manufacturing a case against him. Though they conceded few of them, they insisted the facts confronting Mr. Trump however fell woefully short of impeachment.

Paradigm

Credit... Erin Schaff/The New York Times

"When all is said and done, when the history of this impeachment is written, information technology volition exist said that my Washington Democrat friends couldn't bring themselves to piece of work with Donald Trump, so they consoled themselves instead by silencing the will of those who did, the American people," said Representative Marking Meadows, Republican of North Carolina.

Throughout the inquiry, even as Republicans raged against the process and sought to offer benign explanations for Mr. Trump's conduct, none disputed the cardinal facts that served as its ground: that he asked Ukraine's president to "do us a favor" and investigate Mr. Biden, a prospective rival in the 2022 campaign, and other Democrats.

Mr. Trump'southward impeachment had the potential to change the trajectory of his presidency and redefine an already volatile political mural. Democrats, including the near vulnerable moderates, embraced the manufactures of impeachment with the full knowledge that doing and so could damage them politically, potentially even costing them control of the House.

The merely Democratic dissenters from the abuse of power accuse on Wednesday were Representatives Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, a freshman who has announced that he will switch parties and go a Republican. Representative Jared Golden of Maine, some other centrist freshman, joined them in opposition to the obstruction of Congress charge.

And Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Autonomous presidential contender who has congenital her reputation as a maverick in her political party, voted "nowadays" on both articles.

Republicans tethered themselves to Mr. Trump, as they have since he took office, yoking their political brands and fortunes to his.

The argue proceeded in historic terms in the well of the Firm, even as an odd sense of inevitability hung over Washington about Mr. Trump's fate.

"Today, as speaker of the House, I solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the president of the U.s.," Ms. Pelosi, dressed in all blackness, said every bit fence opened on the articles around noon. "If we do not deed now, we would be derelict in our duty. It is tragic that the president's reckless actions brand impeachment necessary. He gave us no choice."

Afterwards the votes, Ms. Pelosi would not say when she would transmit the articles to the Senate, indicating she might look to do so until she got certain assurances about the fairness of a trial. With Mr. Trump and his allies interested in a speedy acquittal, Ms. Pelosi believes slowing the process could force Senate Republicans to set procedures the Democrats like, people close to her said.

Her comments at least raised the prospect that the House could leave for the holidays with the matter unresolved and the timing of the trial in limbo.

In the Senate, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the bulk leader, has already made articulate he views the House'south case as "weak" and would adopt a swift trial in Jan that does not call any additional fact witnesses. That would increase the likelihood that Congress will simply never hear from several senior government officials with knowledge of the Ukraine affair who avoided Business firm testimony.

Impeachment traces its origins to monarchical England, but the framers of the Constitution confined its utilize on presidents to rare occasions, when their actions corrupted the public involvement for personal ones. Only twice previously has the House impeached a president, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. President Richard M. Nixon resigned in 1974 rather than face such a consequence.

Johnson remained in office by a unmarried vote in 1868. Mr. Clinton more soundly beat the charges, with no more than than one-half of the Senate voting for conviction after more than a month of deliberations. The trial of Mr. Trump is likely to achieve a similar outcome, simply it could exercise and then much more than rapidly, with some Senate Republicans discussing the possibility that the case could be resolved in picayune more than a calendar week.

Paradigm

Credit... Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times

As he did in the face of past accusations, Mr. Trump, 73, railed against impeachment every bit a "witch hunt" and a "hoax," attacking his adversaries with a viciousness rarely heard from previous presidents.

"More than due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials," the president seethed in an angry impeachment eve alphabetic character to Ms. Pelosi.

In Mr. Trump's reality, reinforced past the conservative cable news programs that swirl around him throughout the day, his three years in the White Firm take been more successful than any other. Wednesday'south impeachment intrudes on that, forcing the president and those around him to confront a unlike narrative, one in which he has — in the words of the articles of impeachment — "betrayed the nation" and acted "in a manner grossly incompatible with self governance and the rule of police force."

"Whether Donald Trump leaves in 1 month, one yr or five years, this impeachment is permanent," said Representative Ted Lieu, Democrat of California. "It volition follow him effectually for the rest of his life, and history books will tape it."

The absolutist defense past many members of the Republican Political party and the partisan nature of Wednesday'south votes underscored the remarkable agree that Mr. Trump, who has never commanded the support of a bulk of the nation, has come up to have over the party, remaking it in his prototype.

One Republican, Representative Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, compared Mr. Trump on Wednesday with Jesus Christ, saying that the son of God had been "afforded more rights" by Pontius Pilate than Democrats had given the president.

Democrats' virtually fervent supporters have fantasized since Inauguration Mean solar day 2022 near impeaching Mr. Trump, an extreme remedy for the ultimate insurgent they believed was shredding American institutions in his self-interest. The debate reached a new pitch this yr when they reclaimed command of the House after almost a decade and awaited the results of a ii-twelvemonth Justice Department investigation into whether Mr. Trump's campaign had conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2022 election.

Only as the left pushed harder for Mr. Trump's ouster, Democratic leaders resisted. "He's just non worth information technology," Ms. Pelosi said in March. The Russian federation investigation fizzled when the special counsel declined to recommend charges, even though his study detailed at least ten instances of possible obstacle of justice by Mr. Trump when he tried to thwart the inquiry. By the time lawmakers returned to Washington this autumn after a summer break, impeachment appeared all just dead.

Ms. Pelosi'due south calculations — and public opinion — shifted abruptly in September, when the C.IA. whistle-blower arrived on the Business firm's doorstep.

Prototype

Credit... Erin Schaff/The New York Times

The enquiry information technology prompted moved with alertness, even as Democrats did not have an independent counsel or special prosecutor on whose piece of work they could build. Instead, the House Intelligence Commission called senior American diplomats and White House officials for questioning and requested reams of documents.

In private and then in publicly televised hearings — and all in defiance of White House orders — they outlined a wide-ranging attempt by Mr. Trump and his allies to bend American policy on Ukraine toward carrying out what ane sometime White House official chosen "a domestic political errand" on the president's behalf.

Fueling the obstruction of Congress charge, a dozen more than witnesses, some with direct knowledge of Mr. Trump's actions, were blocked from speaking to investigators, and the Trump administration refused to produce a single document under amendment.

Equally the facts tumbled into the open up, in that location were moments when Republicans in the House and in the Senate flirted with casting their lot against the president. Later the acting White House primary of staff said in October that Mr. Trump had withheld military aid in part to excerpt at least ane politically beneficial investigation from Ukraine, Representative Francis Rooney of Florida said he was open to impeachment. But on Wednesday, he joined every Republican in voting no.

Testimony in November by Gordon D. Sondland, Mr. Trump'due south ambassador to the European Union, that at that place had been a quid pro quo around a White House meeting and perchance around the foreign aid money prompted momentary fears of a mass revolt. Information technology did not materialize.

If annihilation, the process underscored the extent to which the nation was splitting in 2, with each side claiming its own news sources and fact sets that make meaningful argue between Democrats and Republicans over the significance of president's carry almost impossible. Public stance polls evidence the nation is as closely divided over Mr. Trump's impeachment and removal as information technology was on Election Day 2016.

On Wednesday, neither lawmakers nor aides to Mr. Trump foresaw a resolution to the broader fight.

"Nosotros know how this partisan process will end this night," said Representative Will Hurd of Texas, one of a handful of Republicans willing to criticize the president's comport and who is retiring from Congress. "Just what happens tomorrow?"

Image

Credit... Jason Andrew for The New York Times

Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Emily Cochrane and Catie Edmondson contributed reporting.

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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/us/politics/trump-impeached.html

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