Impeach Trump March 2017 Impeach Trump March 2017 Make America Angry Again

Trump Impeached for Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress

Voting most along party lines, the House approved two articles of impeachment confronting President Trump, making him the 3rd president in history to face removal by the Senate.

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House Votes to Impeach Trump

The Democratic-led Firm of Representatives charged President Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

"The yeas are 230, the nays are 197, present is 1 — Article 1 is adopted. The question is on adoption of Article two. On this vote, the yeas are 229, the nays are 198, present is one — Article 2 is adopted." "I don't know about you, but I'm having a good time, it's crazy. Oh, I retrieve nosotros have a vote coming in. So we got every single Republican voted for united states. Whoa, whoa, wow — wow, almost 200. This is the outset impeachment where there'south no crime. I say, tell me what I did please. Well, we don't know — yous violated the Constitution. I'm the first person that ever get impeached and at that place's no crime. Like, I feel guilty. You know they telephone call it: impeachment low-cal. It's impeachment low-cal." "And what is the defence force from my colleagues? When you lot cut through it all, when you cut through all the sound and the fury, signifying null, what it really amounts to is this: Why should we care? We used to care almost democracy. We used to care near our allies. We used to stand up up to Putin and Russia. We used to." "I'll tell you what, Madam Speaker, let me have just a few minutes, stop the clock, and let me go around to the press corps and everybody here and I'k going to charge you of something. You did information technology. You lot did it. You did it. You did it. Now show information technology'due south wrong. Yous did it. Guess what: You don't want to, considering deep down you know that that'southward turning the entire jurisprudence of this state upside downwardly. You're not guilty until you lot prove it — you're innocent. And today from this floor, we have heard the majority leader say this president is guilty and not the other mode around." "This impeachment is permanent. Information technology will follow him effectually for the rest of his life and history books will record it. And the people know why we impeached. Information technology's all very elementary. No ane is to a higher place the police force." "Unfortunately, many of my colleagues have macerated what should be a solemn and grave proceeding into an accented political circus." "If you think I exaggerate in warning that our elections tin be undermined, I'd urge y'all to come up downwardly to Georgia, find a black man or woman of a certain age, and they'll tell you: The danger is real." "So this vote, this twenty-four hour period, is nearly one thing and one thing 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. eighteen, 2019 Updated Feb. ten, 2021

WASHINGTON — The Firm of Representatives on Midweek impeached President Trump for abuse of ability and obstruction of Congress, making him the 3rd president in history to exist charged with committing high crimes and misdemeanors and face removal by the Senate.

On a day of constitutional upshot and raging partisan tension, the votes on the two articles of impeachment fell largely along party lines, afterwards a biting debate that stretched into the evening and reflected the deep polarization gripping American politics in the Trump era.

Only 2 Democrats opposed the commodity on abuse of power, which accused Mr. Trump of corruptly using the levers of authorities to solicit election assistance 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 shut from the Business firm rostrum.

On the 2d accuse, obstacle of Congress, a third Democrat joined Republicans in opposition. The vote was 229 to 198.

The impeachment votes set the phase for a historic trial outset early on next twelvemonth in the Senate, which will have final say — 10 months before Mr. Trump faces re-ballot — on whether to carry the 45th president or convict and remove him from function. The timing was uncertain, later on Ms. Pelosi suggested tardily Wednesday that she might wait to ship the articles to the Senate, holding them out as leverage in a negotiation on the terms of a trial.

Amortization in the Republican-controlled chamber may exist likely, but the proceeding is certain to further aggravate the political and cultural fault lines in the country that Mr. Trump's presidency has brought into dramatic relief. Regardless of the upshot, the impeachment votes in the Firm put an indelible stain on Mr. Trump's presidency that cannot exist wiped from the public consciousness with a avalanche of tweets or an angry tirade in forepart of thousands of his cheering supporters at a campaign rally.

On Wednesday, Democrats characterized his impeachment as an urgent action to finish a decadent president whose misdeeds had unfolded in plainly view from dissentious the United states of america whatever further.

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

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

Far from showing contrition or contemplating resignation, as his predecessors take washed in the face of impeachment, Mr. Trump instead offered an indignant defence force as the House weighed his fate, raging on Twitter from the White House.

Image

Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times

"SUCH Atrocious LIES By THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS," the president wrote as the debate took place on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. "THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN Party!!!!"

Afterwards, as members cast their votes to impeach him in Washington, Mr. Trump took the stage to roars of adulation from his supporters at an arena-style entrada rally in Battle Creek, Mich. He brushed bated the constitutional confrontation equally a "hoax" based on unfounded charges, fifty-fifty equally he conceded that it would be a permanent blot on his presidency.

"I'thou not worried," Mr. Trump said. "You don't practice anything wrong and you get impeached. That may exist a record that will last forever."

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

Senators, he added, "are going to do the right matter."

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

In a divided Business firm, moderate Democrats are begetting the brunt of answering for the impeachment vote.

transcript

transcript

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

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

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

michael barbaro

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

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

Information technology'south Th, December nineteen.

lisa chow

And how far away from Holly?

speaker

35 miles from the home.

lisa chow

O.K. And then yes, nosotros volition go there in fourth dimension. You desire to describe what you're seeing outside the window?

michael barbaro

So we're driving by a strip mall about 45 minutes exterior Detroit. There'south a Best Buy, a Michaels, a PetSmart, a Lowes, Chipotle and a DSW. This is a solid, solid, solid strip mall.

lisa chow

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

michael barbaro

And so we are headed to the dwelling of Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin.

archived recording

Elissa Slotkin has a lead of more than 2,000 votes against 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. So the just way —

michael barbaro

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

archived recording

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

michael barbaro

But the moment she gets into role —

archived recording (rashida tlaib)

Because we're going to go in there, nosotros're going to impeach the motherfucker. [Thanks]

michael barbaro

— people like Rashida Tlaib, the congresswoman who represents a commune but to the south here that we just drove through, they're saying that the findings of the Russia research merit impeachment. And Slotkin is not having any of it.

archived recording

Important quote. This is from Congresswoman Slotkin of Michigan. Impeachment is not what people are coming up to me in the grocery store and talking to me about. They want to know —

michael barbaro

She is skeptical of that, she's opposed to it. It's non office of her political brand to want to impeach the president. And and then of a sudden, the whistle-blower report comes out, and she reads it, and she's very troubled. And she and a handful of her moderate swing-commune Democratic House colleagues write an op-ed in The Washington Post calling for an impeachment inquiry.

archived recording

They write, we have devoted our lives to the service and security of our land. At present we join as a unified grouping to uphold —

michael barbaro

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

archived recording (nancy pelosi)

I'm announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. The president must exist held accountable. No one is above the law.

michael barbaro

And correct abroad, it's clear that there are political consequences for Slotkin.

elissa slotkin

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

michael barbaro

Nosotros went to three town halls in her district and but listened as constituents pelted her with questions nigh why she was doing this.

crowd

[JEERING]

michael barbaro

Ii months get by. The impeachment inquiry unfolds. Hearings happen, a report is filed. And now she has to brand 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, nosotros're going into her driveway.

michael barbaro

We're doing it. I think it'due south O.Thousand. I mean, nosotros're a niggling early. What're yous gonna practice? Nosotros are arriving at Slotkin's house in the eye of these terminal hours of deliberation for her on impeachment. She has told her constituents that she'southward going to denote her conclusion on Monday morning. We are talking to her on Sunday dark.

lisa chow

How do yous experience?

michael barbaro

I feel expert. I mean, I feel dehydrated. Did you actually consume your granola bar?

lisa chow

I did not eat my granola bar. Hard to consume and concur a microphone.

michael barbaro

You're going to regret it when you're in the eye of this interview and y'all're starving.

elissa slotkin

Howdy, guys. Come on in.

michael barbaro

Hi.

elissa slotkin

I'yard Elissa.

michael barbaro

Congresswoman, and so nice to encounter you.

elissa slotkin

So nice to meet you. Hi.

michael barbaro

Thanks for letting united states of america — Lisa.

elissa slotkin

Come on in, come up on in.

michael barbaro

This is a truly a farmhouse.

elissa slotkin

Oh yeah, I'k sorry, I'm sorry. I think of you guys as audio, and then I'm not doing a very dainty job, but this is 1895 farmhouse. My family bought it in the '50s. We held off lighting a fire because nosotros didn't know if the noise would be abrasive, but we can definitely light a fire.

And this — I should just say, this desk, for any information technology's worth, is sort of i of the big heirlooms in my family unit. This was my great-granddad's desk. And if you run across on the plate hither —

michael barbaro

Information technology is kind of a resolute desk.

elissa slotkin

Yeah. And so it was used past Lindley Garrison, secretary of war, 1913 to 1916.

michael barbaro

During the presidency of Woodrow Wilson.

elissa slotkin

Yeah.

michael barbaro

Geez.

elissa slotkin

And so that was a gift to my dandy-grandfather, Sam Slotkin. And it'southward been passed down.

michael barbaro

Is this where you go to make big decisions?

elissa slotkin

This is where I brand my large decisions.

michael barbaro

Is this that — this three-ring binder looks like it's the House Intelligence report?

elissa slotkin

Yes. This is — well, information technology's a lot, I guess, more than than it. Information technology is — permit'due south see. My squad has diligently tabbed it out for me. Then this is the impeachment documents that came down, I guess, what at present, three weeks ago —

michael barbaro

From the Judiciary Committee.

elissa slotkin

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

michael barbaro

May I see this?

elissa slotkin

Y'all're welcome to.

michael barbaro

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

elissa slotkin

Yeah. For me, this is, frankly, a very standard way that I wait at things, which just comes from my training as a C.I.A. officer, which is sequester yourself away, go all the original base documents. And and then you do some historical research and then make an objective decision not based on what you see in the news or what someone's telling y'all.

michael barbaro

Thank you for letting us interrupt information technology.

elissa slotkin

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

michael barbaro

Where would you like us to set up?

elissa slotkin

Take the dining room.

michael barbaro

All right, nosotros'll go set ourselves upwards.

elissa slotkin

Sure.

lisa chow

O.Thou., check, bank check, check, check.

michael barbaro

How am I sounding? O.Thou. And then, Congresswoman, thank you for letting usa into your home —

elissa slotkin

Of course.

michael barbaro

— during a really important moment for yous.

elissa slotkin

Yeah.

michael barbaro

The terminal time we talked to y'all, you had just fabricated a decision to support an impeachment inquiry, which concluded up beingness a very consequential conclusion.

elissa slotkin

Yeah.

michael barbaro

Tell me what the last couple of months accept been like for y'all equally that inquiry has unfolded. What'southward that experience been similar?

elissa slotkin

Well, I would say it'southward probably been some of the almost intense months I've had as a working professional, that's for certain. The principal reason why I decided to come out back in September in support of an inquiry, afterwards many, many months of not supporting impeachment or an research, was this very basic idea that the president of the U.s. reached out to a foreign political party and solicited assist in influencing an American election. And confirming or denying that very basic idea was pretty of import to me in this process.

michael barbaro

That fact pattern.

elissa slotkin

That fact pattern. And yous know, I was in national security for a long time. Nosotros are in the business of pressuring governments to do things that we want, right? That happens all the fourth dimension. And anyone who gets to a senior-plenty level has been in that position. The divergence here was that the president was doing information technology for his own personal political gain, not for the national security interests of the United States. So for me, the central idea was whether the president asked for foreigners to go involved in the American political process.

michael barbaro

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

elissa slotkin

Well, that's what I've been trying to parse through. What became clearer and clearer through what I read and what the reporting produced was that y'all have a lot of people who were enlightened that, for instance, security help was held up in exchange for something. And nosotros accept Ambassador Sondland saying very direct that it was held up because they were waiting for the Ukrainians to alive up to their end of the bargain.

michael barbaro

To conduct these investigations on —

elissa slotkin

Yeah, to denote investigations. That'southward the hardest affair for me about my peers who may make up one's mind not to vote on these articles, is that do they accept that it's O.Chiliad. to invite foreign aid into the American political process?

michael barbaro

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

elissa slotkin

Well, I'chiliad lamentable, and I think that history will show them to exist misguided. And maybe it'south because I was a C.I.A. officeholder, but I am comfortable making hard decisions that aren't popular, because I know that they're the right thing for the security of the land. I was asked to do that over and over and over once more in my prior life. And that'southward the same approach I take to these decisions.

michael barbaro

I hear yous hinting that a hard decision that you're capable of making may exist heading in one direction.

elissa slotkin

Well, listen, I mean, no offense, but I'm non going to tell The New York Times earlier I tell my ain constituents. It's why we're having a large town hall tomorrow. My hope and my responsibility is to exist transparent with the constituents of the Eighth Commune, to be available to heed to their current concerns and answer them, and to be honest with them.

michael barbaro

And then understanding that you lot're not going to be disclosing your intentions simply now at this table in your house, I want to talk nigh your constituents for merely a moment.

elissa slotkin

Sure.

michael barbaro

Based on my understanding of your commune, which voted for Trump by a good for you margin, and co-ordinate to you, does not seem to support impeachment as a whole, you could notice yourself very much at odds with your own constituents.

elissa slotkin

I mean —

michael barbaro

Are you comfortable with that?

elissa slotkin

This is what it ways to be an elected leader. You take to brand tough calls. And in a district like this, I'm never going to make everyone happy. If I lose my seat because I stood upwards for my principles, that's O.K. I, of grade, desire to be re-elected, and I want to maintain the House majority. I retrieve it'south an of import bank check and balance. Merely I'm not going to compromise my principles just to keep that job. I'm just not. And I hope that people desire that kind of an elected representative.

michael barbaro

I practice take to enquire you the kind of political version of this question, which is mathematically, your vote isn't required to impeach the president. And so there're kind of two ways to look at this. On the i manus, if you vote yes, that would exist very politically risky. The other mode to look at this is that if you vote no, that'south its own ready of risks, because as a moderate, yous would be sending a message that the people in the middle who started all this, who said in that location should exist an inquiry, don't retrieve there's enough there to actually impeach. And that would be a very complicated message to transport in 2022 when the president'south running for re-election. Information technology's essentially that impeachment was a project of the far left. And so there's basically a ton of risk no matter what you do, and I wonder how you weigh those risks.

elissa slotkin

Well, I mean, mind, voting on articles of impeachment is right up in that location with Congress's office in declaring war. I hateful, it's got to be one of the top 2 things that a member of Congress will e'er vote on in their career — most of import things. So when you lot take a vote like that, information technology'due south across that political calculus. I recollect information technology should be. It certainly is for me. And I've certainly had people propose to me, you know, but 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 practice you lot say?

elissa slotkin

I have to await at myself in the mirror. Similar, I take to come away from this feel with a sense that I haven't done what and so many people here in Michigan remember of elected officials. I cannot simply become that contemptuous political person who just orients their major decisions around what would salve their seat. I merely —

michael barbaro

Or fifty-fifty their party.

elissa slotkin

Yous know, we have the president admitting that he reached out to a foreigner to ask for help in an American political election. If you call up nearly that outside the normal insanity that we have right at present on Goggle box and all the events that are happening, if you remember about that, which I've been trying to do today here quietly at my subcontract, that is — that is incorrect. And I think that sending a bespeak in the well-nigh clear terms we can is important enough even to risk the majority.

michael barbaro

So it'due south 7:thirty on Sun dark and yous're planning to make an announcement tomorrow morning in front end of your constituents. How are you doing within? How are yous feeling?

elissa slotkin

I really feel pretty clear. I've done the piece of work. I've kept an open mind, and I've sabbatum with the documents, I've sabbatum with the transcripts, and I've made my all-time assessment. So I'm going to try and be as present and available as I can. I trust my voters, I do. And I recall —

michael barbaro

Trust them to practise what?

elissa slotkin

I trust them as Michiganders to give me a risk to explain. And for them to give me the benefit of the doubt.

[music]

michael barbaro

I wish you the best of luck tomorrow.

elissa slotkin

Thanks. 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 back to New York to host the show. You stayed in Michigan. So what happens the adjacent twenty-four hours, after we had talked to Elissa Slotkin?

lisa chow

So the next day, I arrive 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 because Slotkin had already announced her determination in the local paper that morning.

michael barbaro

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

lisa grub

Aye, just she hadn't yet told her constituents. And and so in this op-ed, she says very conspicuously that she is voting yep on both articles of impeachment.

speaker 1

She must go at present!

speaker ii

Country over party! Impeach and remove Trump!

lisa chow

So people are lining upwardly to go inside the auditorium where the town hall coming together will be held. And outside, in that location was a bunch of protesters with big signs saying, "Impeach Slotkin, go along Trump," in bright scarlet messages. And some of them are carrying much smaller signs that say, "We accept your back."

michael barbaro

Which is a message to Slotkin.

lisa chow

Exactly.

speaker 1

Practise y'all sympathise that?

speaker 2

Yous're yelling.

speaker i

Exercise you like Russians?

lisa chow

I hateful, very quickly, people start yelling at each other.

speaker 1

Because I have to talk over your people. Do you like Russian federation? Do you like Russian federation? Considering I'm a veteran, and I do not back up Russia!

speaker 2

Have a give-and-take.

speaker 1

The fact is you walked up to me and you asked me about Ukraine, which is a Russian —

lisa grub

The one exchange that I found peculiarly memorable was this veteran —

speaker 1

You're standing here as an American, every bit an American, talking —

lisa chow

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 election.

speaker ane

Our flag is reddish, white and blue, non red and blue. It is red, white, and blue. Put your country get-go for once, O.K.?

speaker 2

I am. Would y'all like to talk over? See?

lisa chow

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

speaker 1

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

speaker two

Are you gonna heed? Biden bragged about — about bribing Ukraine with a billion dollars. Exercise yous want to hear it?

lisa chow

They're just looking at the facts in a totally different way.

speaker two

What crime? Name one. Proper name one crime. You jumped in, I'grand listening. Name one offense.

speaker three

Corruption of power.

speaker 2

That'south not — O.K., that — proper name what exactly did he practise to corruption — to abuse power?

Say one.

speaker 4

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

speaker ii

He didn't! The Democrats did!

speaker 4

You really are insane, aren't you lot? Open your eyes.

lisa chow

O.K. And then.

lisa grub

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

lisa chow

People are registering, and then walking into the auditorium.

lisa grub

The room is packed.

lisa chow

How many chairs are here?

speaker

418. And so we set up for well-nigh 400 people.

lisa chow

O.K. Information technology's filling up.

lisa chow

In that location are tons of media, national and local press covering this event.

lisa chow

Can you tell me where you're from?

speaker 1

The Flint Periodical and mlive.com.

speaker 2

MIRS news.

speaker 3

I'm here for NPR today.

speaker 4

Simone from Roll Phone call.

speaker 5

The Detroit Complimentary Printing.

speaker half dozen

The Oakland Press.

speaker 7

Detroit News.

speaker viii

The New York Times.

speaker 9

Huffington Postal service.

speaker 10

Washington Mail.

speaker xi

Associated Press.

speaker 12

The Michigan Accelerate.

speaker 13

CNN.

lisa chow

And it'southward articulate that this is the story, which is moderate Democrats and their vulnerability in this vote that they're taking.

speaker

Allow's delight welcome to the stage Congresswoman Slotkin.

michael barbaro

And then what happens next?

lisa grub

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

oversupply

[Cheering AND JEERING]

lisa chow

Immediately, the crowd erupts in both cheers and boos.

elissa slotkin

O.M., guys. O.Thousand.

speaker

All correct, everybody. Thank you.

elissa slotkin

O.Yard., well, I'thou thrilled to see such a peachy turnout today.

speaker

Let's please — delight let her speak.

crowd

[YELLING]

lisa grub

And she basically tin't get a word in.

speaker

Permit's delight respect the people around you who are here to listen.

lisa chow

There is a very loud group in the corner of the room that is making it nigh incommunicable for her to exist heard by the rest of the room.

elissa slotkin

And then in an attempt to be transparent, I'one thousand going to walk you through my logic. And I know it's clear that we don't all agree. I thought we needed to let the election of 2022 decide what was going to happen in our country. But those changed — that changed for me on the very basic facts that the president of the United States 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 grub

Liar, shame on you.

elissa slotkin

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

michael barbaro

So the Michiganders don't quite give her the chance to explain herself that she told usa she'd been hoping for.

lisa grub

Not really.

elissa slotkin

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

lisa chow

And in that location's one guy in detail in the back —

speaker

The Democrats are run by "the squad"!

lisa chow

— who screams —

speaker

The Democrats are run by the squad!

lisa grub

— you're function of the squad.

speaker

Democrats are the party of the squad!

lisa chow

The team runs the Democrats.

michael barbaro

Right, the four best-known House freshmen liberals.

lisa chow

Exactly. And at one signal, he fifty-fifty gets upwardly and yells —

speaker

You belong to Rashida!

lisa chow

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

michael barbaro

Right.

lisa chow

Because they knew the Republicans would endeavor to lump all the Democrats together as Trump-hating left-wing progressives.

michael barbaro

Right. They would attempt to make a Slotkin and a Tlaib indistinguishable, even though they're very different.

[music]

lisa grub

Exactly. And Slotkin has been and then cautious in this process. She'due south been thorough. She has had careful reasoning. But none of that matters in this moment. She is Rashida Tlaib, according to those protesters.

speaker 1

Exercise you correspond your party or practise you stand up for your Constitution?

speaker 2

Let her say that. Let her say that. That she is non a part of the team!

speaker i

She did!

speaker 2

No, she should did not! She has to say! Let her say that! Let her say that!

lisa chow

I think that's exactly what gets under Slotkin'south skin — this feeling of non existence understood in the fashion that she understands herself. That no matter what she says, no thing what she believes, a significant number of her constituents are just going to run into her as this kind of caricature of a Democrat. And they're never going to concur with her, and she'southward non going to be able to get through to them. You could tell from her voice that possibly, you know, she expected this. Maybe this scene didn't surprise her. Merely it'south still hard.

speaker

All right, anybody. Thank you very much for coming out today. Delight leave safely.

elissa slotkin

Thanks. Thank you for listening. Appreciate it. Thank you for being good citizens.

lisa chow

So the auditorium is cleared out. Now that'due south over. And I approximate adjacent, we're headed to Washington to comprehend the actual vote.

michael barbaro

Nosotros'll be right back.

michael barbaro

Did you bring h2o? Or did I just, like — idiotically, I left my water on the other side of the Capitol. It's O.K. Information technology'due south OK. Information technology's OK.

lisa chow

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

michael barbaro

So nosotros're in the U.S. Capitol, standing just outside the House chamber. You can kind of meet it through these double doors. And inside that chamber —

archived recording

House will be in gild.

michael barbaro

There's about 6 more hours of debate happening. A lot of it very anticipated. Democrats are saying —

archived recording

No i is higher up the law.

michael barbaro

That after not bad 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 maxim —

archived recording

They hate this president.

michael barbaro

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

archived recording

They think Hillary Clinton should exist president, and they want to fix that.

michael barbaro

And I'thou kind of imagining Elissa Slotkin in there preparing for a monumental vote that a lot of people in her district have just said they don't desire her to take. But at that place'south actually somebody else and I accept been thinking nigh.

michael barbaro

Congresswoman.

rashida tlaib

Hi, Michael. How's it going?

michael barbaro

And that'south Rashida Tlaib. Because she has been talking about impeachment from the commencement.

rashida tlaib

Hi.

michael barbaro

Hullo.

rashida tlaib

How are you?

michael barbaro

I'm expert.

rashida tlaib

Good.

michael barbaro

You lot look well.

rashida tlaib

Yeah. Today is something that I've been talking to my fourteen-year-old about, Adam. He'southward and so funny. Before he went to schoolhouse, I had a chat with him.

michael barbaro

What did you say?

rashida tlaib

Oh, just, you know, told you mommy is going to follow through on making certain the bang-up is not going to remain using the most powerful position in the world to his personal gain and personal profit. I want him to all the same believe that people have the power, and that the truth e'er prevails. And so I feel similar this gets united states of america closer to that.

michael barbaro

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'one thousand mindful that it was in January of this year that you came into office and pretty much immediately generated a little bit of news by calling for the impeachment of the president, long earlier Speaker Pelosi and many of the moderate Democrats were fix to accept that action. I think I was actually here with you in the Capitol when that happened. And we had talked at that point about the fear that you and other progressive freshmen in the House might push the party to left in a mode that could jeopardize those moderate colleagues. And now hither nosotros are, correct? So I wonder what you make of that journey of the whole Firm Democratic delegation?

rashida tlaib

You lot know, I don't similar it when people say we're moving folks to the left or moving folks to the correct. Nosotros're moving folks towards the truth. To me, that's nonpartisan. The fact of the matter is something was wrong here. Children were being caged at the border. He was profiting off of being a sitting C.E.O. in the White Firm. At that place 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

Simply that's not what today is near.

rashida tlaib

Oh, of course not. You know, one of the things I said later this happened, after, you know, the Ukraine phone call happened, is that that'southward what got us to 218. I mean, await, I am not 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 District. They elected me out of a number of candidates, saying that this is also about electing the jury that will hold this president answerable. And that's exactly what I did from mean solar day one. For many of my colleagues, they didn't run on this issue, right? But, I mean, the fourth dimension has found united states of america, equally Speaker Pelosi kept saying. And it'south very true, I think many were very hesitant, only the Ukraine call took them over the border, for many of these folks.

michael barbaro

Well, let me talk well-nigh one of these districts, considering earlier this week, Lisa and I went to Michigan, your land. We drove through your district on the way to the district of one 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 now know she'south going to be voting for impeachment, information technology was really apparent right away. In that location was a lot of fury directed at her.

rashida tlaib

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

michael barbaro

Right.

rashida tlaib

And she has to represent her district. I think for my residents and I, there's a sense of liberation. They've been calling with excitement of finally some sense of accountability. I remember when we run into injustices, we see things that just don't make any sense, we feel like it's pain the country, pain people, that people are actually in true, real emotional pain from things around the racist corruption of power to even threats to our national security. It creates so much anxiety effectually the land. And for folks, they just want to experience like somebody is fighting for them. That somebody here has their dorsum.

michael barbaro

This feels similar a moment of that for them?

rashida tlaib

Yes. I think they want people to speak upwardly. It's like, why aren't they saying anything? Why aren't people doing anything about it? Isn't that illegal? Shouldn't those folks be in jail? You know, these are the kinds of things I hear from my residents all the time. So for today, it is very much an incredible moment that they finally feel a sense that they are believed. So yes, that's the i affair. I respect that she has a different district than mine. I don't impose my opinion onto her district, and I call back she doesn't practise the same to mine.

michael barbaro

Let me create a picture for you lot and I want to know what you think of it. The House flips, Democrats lose information technology, the president is impeached, but just in the Firm, not in the Senate. Is it worth it? Is it worth it?

rashida tlaib

Aye! Why isn't it worth it? It is protecting our future. Practice you know — if we always decided to function from political strategy, nosotros wouldn't become things done. Would the Affordable Intendance Act pass? It wasn't perfect, but you know what? We really saved lives. And some people couldn't come dorsum because they voted for that. But if we were to go dorsum, do we want to practise information technology all over again? Yeah, nosotros would. We would, to salvage people's lives. And for united states, this is about saving our democracy. And sometimes that means putting our neck out. And aye, they're going to use this confronting united states and try to vilify what we tried to do, which is put our land first.

michael barbaro

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

rashida tlaib

Absolutely it is.

michael barbaro

— blue district?

rashida tlaib

Only don't think my life hasn't been threatened. Don't remember that the get-go 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. You know, I experience like, in many ways, my life has completely been transformed because I volition not stand up downward. I will not allow this corrupt president to corruption his power, nor put people in the pain that they are going through right now, because he decided to obstruct Congress. That he decided that he doesn't really care about the process, and the rules, and the laws. You don't take over the United states of America. You get elected, and you serve it. And then we're going to served the The states of America today by holding this president answerable and setting a very articulate bulletin that nosotros won't let this danger precedent in our history to keep. Because it could be a Democrat or a Republican down the line that would do the same and get abroad with it. And that, to me, is what is at stake more than beingness in the bulk or winning an ballot.

michael barbaro

I know you have to get. I desire to thank you for spending the last year with us.

rashida tlaib

Yep, of form. Thank you and then much. It's been an incredible journeying.

michael barbaro

And letting u.s. tell your story.

rashida tlaib

Thank you. Cheers, Michael. I'm speaking on the floor, and then —

michael barbaro

Practiced luck with your speech.

rashida tlaib

Thank y'all.

michael barbaro

Good day.

rashida tlaib

Appreciate information technology.

archived recording (jerry nadler)

Madame Speaker, I now yield 1 infinitesimal to the gentlelady from Michigan, Miss Tlaib.

archived recording (diana degette)

The gentlelady is recognized for 1 infinitesimal.

archived recording (rashida tlaib)

Give thanks yous. I rise today in support of impeachment.

I learned so much every unmarried twenty-four hour period from my residents at domicile. Their mutual sense and understanding of what is right and incorrect is centered on why they oppose whatever person using the almost powerful position in the world for personal gain. Doing nothing here, Madame Speaker, is not an choice. Looking abroad from these crimes confronting our country is not an selection. This is about protecting the hereafter of our nation and our democracy from corruption, abuse of ability, criminal embrace-ups and blackmail. And this, Madame Speaker, this vote is too for my sons and the future of so many generations. Then I urge my colleagues to please vote yes on these manufactures of impeachment. With that, Madame Speaker, I yield.

archived recording (diana degette)

Gentleman from Georgia.

archived recording (doug collins)

Thanks, Madame Speaker.

michael barbaro

Soon later 8:00 p.one thousand. on Wednesday night, the House voted on the first commodity of impeachment confronting President Trump — corruption of power.

archived recording (nancy pelosi)

On this vote, the yeas are 230, the nays are 197. Present is i. Commodity 1 is adopted.

michael barbaro

Presently after, a vote was held on the 2nd article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress.

archived recording (nancy pelosi)

On this vote, the yeas are 229, the nays are 198. Present is ane. Article ii is adopted.

michael barbaro

With that, Donald J. Trump became the third president in American history to be impeached by the House of Representatives.

archived recording (donald trump)

With today's illegal, unconstitutional and partisan impeachment —

archived recording (oversupply)

[BOOING]

archived recording (donald trump)

— the do-nothing Democrats, and they are do-zippo, all they desire 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 equally the House voted, President Trump described the impeachment vote as an attack on his supporters and predicted that information technology would backfire on Democrats at the polls.

archived recording (donald trump)

This lawless, partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat party. Have you seen my polls in the final iv weeks?

archived recording (crowd)

[Cheering]

archived recording (donald trump)

It's crazy.

michael barbaro

That'south information technology for "The Daily." I'm Michael Barbaro. Encounter you lot tomorrow.

Despite years of speculation, Mr. Trump'south impeachment did not, in the stop, abound out of the ii-year investigation into Russian election meddling by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, or the seemingly endless series of other accusations of corruption 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 one-half-hr telephone 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 same time he was withholding nearly $400 1000000 in vital military assistance for the country and a White House meeting.

Congress learned nearly the phone call after an anonymous C.I.A. official lodged a whistle-blower complaint in Baronial — pulling a cord that helped unravel an effort by the president and his allies to pressure level a foreign government for help in smearing a political rival. Over a period of weeks this fall, a parade of diplomats and other administration officials confirmed and expanded on those revelations.

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

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

Epitome

Credit... Erin Schaff/The New York Times

"When all is said and done, when the history of this impeachment is written, it will be said that my Washington Democrat friends couldn't bring themselves to piece of work with Donald Trump, then they consoled themselves instead past silencing the will of those who did, the American people," said Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina.

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

Mr. Trump'south impeachment had the potential to change the trajectory of his presidency and redefine an already volatile political landscape. Democrats, including the most vulnerable moderates, embraced the articles of impeachment with the full noesis that doing so could damage them politically, potentially even costing them control of the Business firm.

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 Bailiwick of jersey, a freshman who has appear that he will switch parties and get a Republican. Representative Jared Golden of Maine, another centrist freshman, joined them in opposition to the obstruction of Congress charge.

And Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Autonomous presidential contender who has built her reputation every bit a maverick in her party, voted "present" on both manufactures.

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

The debate proceeded in historic terms in the well of the House, even as an odd sense of inevitability hung over Washington well-nigh Mr. Trump's fate.

"Today, as speaker of the Business firm, I solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the president of the United states of america," Ms. Pelosi, dressed in all blackness, said equally debate opened on the articles around noon. "If nosotros do not deed now, we would be derelict in our duty. It is tragic that the president'due south reckless actions brand impeachment necessary. He gave united states of america no choice."

After the votes, Ms. Pelosi would not say when she would transmit the articles to the Senate, indicating she might wait to exercise and then until she got sure 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 ready 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 majority leader, has already fabricated clear he views the House's case every bit "weak" and would prefer a swift trial in January that does not phone call any boosted fact witnesses. That would increase the likelihood that Congress volition simply never hear from several senior government officials with knowledge of the Ukraine matter who avoided House testimony.

Impeachment traces its origins to monarchical England, but the framers of the Constitution confined its use on presidents to rare occasions, when their deportment corrupted the public interest for personal ones. Merely twice previously has the Business firm impeached a president, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Neb Clinton in 1998. President Richard M. Nixon resigned in 1974 rather than face such a issue.

Johnson remained in office by a single vote in 1868. Mr. Clinton more soundly crush the charges, with no more than than one-half of the Senate voting for confidence subsequently more a calendar month of deliberations. The trial of Mr. Trump is likely to reach a similar event, just it could do and then much more chop-chop, with some Senate Republicans discussing the possibility that the case could exist resolved in little more than a week.

Paradigm

Credit... Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times

As he did in the face of by 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 aroused impeachment eve letter to Ms. Pelosi.

In Mr. Trump's reality, reinforced past the conservative cable news programs that swirl effectually him throughout the day, his three years in the White House accept been more than successful than whatsoever other. Wednesday's impeachment intrudes on that, forcing the president and those around him to face a different narrative, i in which he has — in the words of the articles of impeachment — "betrayed the nation" and acted "in a mode grossly incompatible with self governance and the rule of law."

"Whether Donald Trump leaves in 1 month, one twelvemonth or 5 years, this impeachment is permanent," said Representative Ted Lieu, Democrat of California. "It will follow him around for the residual of his life, and history books volition record it."

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

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

Democrats' most fervent supporters have fantasized since Inauguration Day 2022 virtually impeaching Mr. Trump, an extreme remedy for the ultimate insurgent they believed was shredding American institutions in his cocky-interest. The debate reached a new pitch this year when they reclaimed control of the House later on nearly a decade and awaited the results of a 2-yr Justice Department investigation into whether Mr. Trump's entrada had conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2022 election.

Just as the left pushed harder for Mr. Trump's ouster, Autonomous leaders resisted. "He's just non worth information technology," Ms. Pelosi said in March. The Russia investigation fizzled when the special counsel declined to recommend charges, even though his report detailed at least 10 instances of possible obstruction of justice by Mr. Trump when he tried to thwart the enquiry. By the fourth dimension lawmakers returned to Washington this fall subsequently a summer break, impeachment appeared all but dead.

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

Paradigm

Credit... Erin Schaff/The New York Times

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

In individual and then in publicly televised hearings — and all in defiance of White House orders — they outlined a wide-ranging attempt past Mr. Trump and his allies to bend American policy on Ukraine toward conveying out what one erstwhile White Business firm official called "a domestic political errand" on the president's behalf.

Fueling the obstruction of Congress charge, a dozen more witnesses, some with directly noesis of Mr. Trump'southward deportment, were blocked from speaking to investigators, and the Trump administration refused to produce a unmarried certificate under subpoena.

As the facts tumbled into the open, there were moments when Republicans in the Firm and in the Senate flirted with casting their lot against the president. After the interim White Firm chief of staff said in October that Mr. Trump had withheld military machine assist in function to extract at least one politically beneficial investigation from Ukraine, Representative Francis Rooney of Florida said he was open up to impeachment. Simply on Wednesday, he joined every Republican in voting no.

Testimony in November by Gordon D. Sondland, Mr. Trump'southward ambassador to the European union, that at that place had been a quid pro quo effectually a White House meeting and possibly effectually the foreign assist money prompted momentary fears of a mass defection. Information technology did not materialize.

If annihilation, the process underscored the extent to which the nation was splitting in two, with each side claiming its own news sources and fact sets that make meaningful debate between Democrats and Republicans over the significance of president's conduct almost impossible. Public opinion polls evidence the nation is equally closely divided over Mr. Trump'southward impeachment and removal equally it was on Election Day 2016.

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

"We know how this partisan process will end this evening," said Representative Will Hurd of Texas, one of a scattering of Republicans willing to criticize the president'due south conduct and who is retiring from Congress. "But what happens tomorrow?"

Paradigm

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