President Donald Trump has reacted to the news of his impeachment by the House of Representatives.
The United States House of Representatives voted largely to impeach Donald Trump for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power related to his dealings with Ukraine.
Reacting to his impeachment on Twitter, Donald Trump shared a poster of himself with the inscription : ‘IN REALITY, THEY’RE NOT AFTER ME THEY’RE AFTER YOU, I’M JUST IN THE WAY.’
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2019
Meanwhile, The Herald reported that Trump’s impeachment does not mean he is vacating the White House immediately as opposed to Nigeria where the President immediately bids the presidency farewell.
The impeached US President will stand trial before the Senate where his fate will be decided. The trial begins in January.
Reports earlier claimed that the Democrats in the US House Judiciary Committee were expected to announce articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Tuesday, a lawmaker told multiple U.S. media outlets.
Elliot Engel, the House Foreign Affairs Chairman, told reporters that the articles of impeachment were likely to be unveiled at a news conference on Tuesday morning.
It is unclear how many articles will be introduced and on what charges the articles will be based. Democrats say that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine as part of a pressure campaign to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Trump’s domestic political rival Joe Biden and conspiracy theories related to the 2016 presidential election.
According to the Democrats, Trump abused power and committed bribery, accusations which Trump denies. Once the Democrats’ articles of impeachment are formally introduced, they are likely to go through changes before leaving the House Judiciary Committee and are put up for a general vote.
If the Democrat-controlled House votes in favour of the impeachment articles, then the process moves to the Republican-controlled Senate, where Trump’s supporters have promised to defend the president.
On Monday Democrats held a public hearing summing up their case against the president. House Judiciary Committee staff lawyers for majority Democrats laid out the evidence for impeachment over Trump’s dealings with Ukraine earlier this year, while a committee lawyer for minority Republicans rebutted the claims in sometimes heated exchanges.
“We are here today because Donald J Trump, the 45th president of the United States, abused the power of his office, the American presidency, for his political and personal benefit,” Daniel Goldman, a lawyer for Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, said in his opening statement.