The impeachment of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, was initiated on December 18, 2019. The House of Representatives approved articles of impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. On February 5, 2020, Trump was acquitted on both counts by the Senate as neither count received 67 votes to convict. This made Trump the third U.S. president in history to be impeached.
About Impeachment of Donald Trump in brief
The impeachment of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, was initiated on December 18, 2019. The House of Representatives approved articles of impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. On February 5, 2020, Trump was acquitted on both counts by the Senate as neither count received 67 votes to convict. This made Trump the third U.S. president in history to be impeached and marked the first fully partisan impeachment where a U. S. president was impeached without support from the President’s own party. The inquiry stage of Trump’s impeachment lasted from September to November 2019 in the wake of an August whistleblower complaint alleging Trump’s abuse ofPower. The Trump–Ukraine scandal revolves around alleged efforts by U.K. officials to illegally coerce Ukraine and other foreign countries into providing damaging narratives about the 2020 presidential candidate. The President allegedly enlisted personal lawyers and surrogates within his administration, including his personal lawyer and Attorney General William McGahn, to provide damaging information about the 2016 presidential candidate Joe Biden, as well as to promote a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was behind interference in the 2016 election. In October, three congressional committees deposed witnesses. In November, the House Intelligence Committee held a number of public hearings in which witnesses testified publicly; on December 3, the committee voted 13–9 along party lines to adopt a final report. On December 16, the full House approved both articles in a mostly party-line vote, with all Republicans opposing along with three Democrats. In December 2017, an impeachment resolution failed in the House with a 58–364 vote margin.
Following the 2018 elections, the Democrats gained a majority in theHouse and launched multiple investigations into Trump’s actions and finances. Investigations into various scandals in the Trump administration which could lead to impeachment were led by various congressional committees and began in February 2019. A formal impeachment investigation into Trump began in July 2019, and several subpoenas were issued; while several were issued, several were not honored, including several that led to several lawsuits. In May 2019, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi indicated that Trump’s continued actions, which she characterized as obstruction of justice and refusal to honor congressional subpoenas, might lead to an impeachment inquiry by the House. Trump fired witnesses Ambassador Gordon Sondland and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who had testified in the impeachment inquiry. Two days after the acquittal, Trump fired witness Robert O’Brien, while the National Security Adviser claims he was responsible for the reassignment, according to The Wall Street Journal. The trial saw no witnesses or documents being subpoenaed, as Republican senators rejected attempts to introduce subpoenas on January 21 while arranging for trial procedures, and then on January 31 after a debate. On Article I,abuse of power, 48 senators voted for conviction, while 52 Senators voted for acquittal. On Article II, obstruction of the Congress, 47 senators vote for conviction,. while 53 senators voted to acquit. Republican Mitt Romney, the only senator to vote to convict a president of his own party in an impeachment trial, as he voted to conviction on abuse ofpower.
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