US House Judiciary Committee Votes To Impeach Trump, Capping Damaging Testimony

 After a grueling 14-plus hours of debate Thursday, the House judiciary committee advanced two articles of impeachment to a full vote before the House of Representatives next week, bringing President Trump one step closer to being impeached.

• The committee was supposed to vote on the articles Thursday, but Democratic chair Jerry Nadler made a surprise decision after 11 p.m. EST to hold the vote until Friday morning, which immediately angered Republicans.
• Throughout the day, GOP committee members attempted to add five amendments to the articles, all of which failed on party line votes.
• Rancorous moments peppered the debate, including when Democrat Hank Johnson called out Republican Matt Gaetz (who was arrested on suspicion of DUI in 2008) for bringing up Hunter Biden’s history of substance abuse: “I would say that the pot calling the kettle black is not something that we should do.”
• The full House of Representatives is reportedly voting on the articles next week, and is likewise expected to vote in favor of impeaching Trump since Democrats outnumber Republicans.
• Once the House votes in favor of the articles, Trump would be impeached⁠—but the Republican-controlled Senate, which would reportedly hold a trial in January, would have to vote in favor of removing him from office.
• During a late Thursday appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said that although he would have no choice but to hold a trial, “there is no chance the president’s going to be removed from office.”

Chief critic: Trump, who tweeted early on Friday morning: “How do you get Impeached when you have done NOTHING wrong.”

How do you get Impeached when you have done NOTHING wrong (a perfect call), have created the best economy in the history of our Country, rebuilt our Military, fixed the V.A. (Choice!), cut Taxes & Regs, protected your 2nd A, created Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, and soooo much more? Crazy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2019

Key background: There are two articles of impeachment against Trump. The first, abuse of power, accuses the president of pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. The second accuses him of obstructing Congress by refusing to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry. The inquiry began in September with closed-door hearings from witnesses before progressing to public hearings. About a dozen witnesses who gave closed-door testimony repeated it in the public hearings, which concluded November 21.

Culled from forbes