The impeachment of President Donald Trump in the U.S. House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress sets the stage for a historic trial next month in the Republican-controlled Senate on whether he should be removed from office.
But it was unclear on Thursday how or when that trial would play out after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she might delay sending over the articles of impeachment to the Senate in order to pressure that chamber to conduct what she viewed as a fair trial.
Mr. Trump said the ball was now in the Senate’s court. “Now the Do Nothing Party want to Do Nothing with the Articles & not deliver them to the Senate, but its Senates call!” Mr. Trump said on Twitter. “If the Do Nothing Democrats decide, in their great wisdom, not to show up, they would lose by Default!”
Representative Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, said on MSNBC that Democrats would like the Senate to first approve a $1.4 trillion spending plan and a trade agreement with Canada and Mexico before turning to impeachment.
He said Democrats were also concerned that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell may not allow a full trial. Mr. McConnell has predicted there is “no chance” his chamber will convict Mr. Trump.
The mostly party-line votes on Wednesday in the Democratic-led House came after long hours of bitter debate that reflected the partisan tensions in a divided America, and made Mr. Trump the third U.S. President to be impeached.
Republicans argued that Democrats were using a rigged process to nullify the 2016 election and influence Mr. Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, while Democrats said Mr. Trump's actions in pressuring Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, a leading Democratic presidential contender, were a threat to democracy.
Mr. Trump is certain to face more friendly terrain during a trial in the 100-member Senate, where a vote to remove him would require a two-thirds majority. Ms. Pelosi said after the vote she would wait to name the House managers, who will prosecute the case, until she knew more about the Senate trial procedures. She did not specify when she would send the impeachment articles to the Senate.
Mr. Trump, who is seeking another four-year term in the November 2020 presidential election, has denied wrongdoing and called the impeachment inquiry launched by Pelosi in September a “witch hunt.”
At a raucous rally for his re-election in Battle Creek, Michigan, as the House voted, Mr. Trump said the impeachment would be a “mark of shame” for Democrats and Ms. Pelosi, and cost them in the 2020 election.
“This lawless, partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat Party,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re the ones who should be impeached, every one of them.”
Mr. Trump's election has polarised the U.S., dividing families and friends and making it more difficult for politicians in Washington to find middle ground as they try to confront pressing challenges like the rise of China and climate change.
The impeachment vote comes ahead of Mr. Trump's re-election campaign, which will pit him against the winner among a field of Democratic contenders, including Mr. Biden, who have repeatedly criticised Mr. Trump's conduct in office and promised to make it a key issue.
Published - December 19, 2019 10:45 pm IST