U.S. President Donald Trump, has been impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Trump was impeached by the legislators following a fierce debate and vote on two articles of impeachment against him after weeks of testimony related to his dealings with Ukraine.
The House voted 230-197 to impeach Trump for abusing his power in his dealings with Ukraine and another 229-198 for obstruction of justice, as both articles of impeachment were passed.
House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who kicked off the impeachment debate in a lengthy speech said the action was “one of the most solemn powers this body can take.”
“No member, regardless of political or party, comes to Congress to impeach a president,” said Pelosi.
Speaker Pelosi noted that Trump had pursued an “improper personal benefit” at “the expense of our national security,” which “gave us no choice” but to impeach.
“If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duties,” Pelosi added.
Trump was alleged to have blocked the payment of a congressionally mandated $400 million military aid package to obtain quid pro quo cooperation from, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
He eventually released the aid package.
The U.S. President was accused to have pressured Ukrainian President to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter over Hunter’s involvement with the Ukrainian natural-gas company Burisma Holdings.
President Trump also reportedly asked President Zelensky to look into the conspiracy theory alleging Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
However, the US President denied wrongdoing, noting that his interest in launching the investigations was legitimate because he wanted to eradicate corruption.
He described the impeachment inquiry as “sham” and “hoax”.
Trump tweeted: “I DID NOTHING WRONG”.
“Can you believe that I will be impeached today by the Radical left, Do Nothing Democrats, AND I DID NOTHING WRONG! A terrible Thing. Read the transcripts. This should never happen to another President again. Say a PRAYER!”
