Majority of House Votes To Impeach On Article 1

WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority in US House has voted to impeach President Trump for abuse of power; voting still underway.

The final vote on article 1 was 220 to 166.  216 voters were needed to impeach.

Pres. Donald Trump becomes the third president in U.S. history to be impeached. The Senate will decide if he will be removed from office.

The Associated Press filed this report from Battle Creek, Mich., where President Trump held a rally during the vote.

He said the country i is doing better than ever, adding, “We did nothing wrong, and we have tremendous support in the Republican Party like we've never had before"

Trump is capping a historic day for the nation by taking his case to a swing state that narrowly voted for him in the 2016 election.

 

In a vivid split screen moment, President Donald Trump arrived Wednesday night at the site of a campaign rally in Michigan just as the House was preparing to vote on his impeachment

An indignant and defiant Trump has been staring down the impending votes just as he has every obstacle in his presidency: by broadcasting his grievances via tweet. Though the White House had said Trump would be busy working rather than focused on the proceedings, the president spent much of his day tweeting and retweeting.

“Can you believe that I will be impeached today by the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, AND I DID NOTHING WRONG!" Trump wrote in one of 45 tweets posted before noon. He asked his followers to “Say a PRAYER!"

As members of the House debated the articles of impeachment, Trump's urgency appeared to escalate as he switched to all capital letters: “SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!" he wrote.

The impeachment saga that reached its zenith on Thursday with the House vote has roots extending to last spring.

On April 21, President Donald Trump spoke by phone with the incoming president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to congratulate him on his victory.

Yet a readout of the call released by the White House at the time bears little resemblance to the rough transcript that later emerged.

The word “corruption” is not mentioned in the rough transcript. The impeachment inquiry would later focus on Trump's questionable claims that he had been concerned with corruption in Ukraine.