Impeachment of Donald Trump
 | This article is about a current event. |
| Impeachment of Donald Trump | |
|---|---|
 Members of House of Representatives vote on two articles of impeachment (H. Res. 755) | |
| Accused | Donald Trump, President of the United States[1] |
| Proponents |
|
| Date | December 18, 2019 to February 5, 2020 |
| Outcome | Impeached by the House of Representatives;[1][2][3] found not guilty by the Senate |
| Charges | Abuse of power, obstruction of Congress |
| Cause | Allegations that Trump unlawfully solicited Ukrainian authorities to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election |
| Congressional votes | |
| Voting in the U.S. House of Representatives | |
| Accusation | Article I – abuse of power |
| Votes in favor | 230 |
| Votes against | 197 |
| Present | 1 |
| Not voting | 3 |
| Result | Article approved; President Trump impeached |
| Accusation | Article II – obstruction of Congress |
| Votes in favor | 229 |
| Votes against | 198 |
| Present | 1 |
| Not voting | 3 |
| Result | Article approved |
| Voting in the U.S. Senate | |
| Accusation | Article I – abuse of power |
| Votes in favor | 48 |
| Votes against | 52 |
| Result | Acquitted |
| Accusation | Article II – obstruction of Congress |
| Votes in favor | 47 |
| Votes against | 53 |
| Result | Acquitted |
The impeachment of Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, began on September 24, 2019, after a whistleblower alleged that Trump had pressured foreign leaders. The scandal was about Trump telling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate Hunter Biden and his father Joe Biden, a former vice-president and a candidate for the 2020 presidential election. It ended on February 5, 2020.
Contents
House trial[change | change source]
The inquiry stage of Trump's impeachment lasted from September to November 2019. In October 2019, three Congressional committees (Intelligence, Oversight, and Foreign Affairs) deposed witnesses.
In November 2019, the House Intelligence Committee held a number of public hearings in which witnesses testified publicly. On December 3, the House Intelligence Committee voted 13–9 along party lines to adopt a final report.
A set of impeachment hearings before the Judiciary Committee began on December 4, 2019. On December 13, the House Judiciary Committee voted 23–17 along party lines to recommend two articles of impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Judiciary Committee also released a report on the articles of impeachment on December 16.[4]
The first hearing, held on December 4, 2019, was an academic discussion on the definition of an impeachable offense. The witnesses invited by Democrats were law professors Noah Feldman from Harvard, Pamela S. Karlan from Stanford, and Michael Gerhardt from the University of North Carolina. Republicans invited Jonathan Turley, a constitutional scholar at George Washington University.[5][6]
On December 18, the full House approved the articles of impeachment, making Trump the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.
House Vote[change | change source]
| Article I (Abuse of power) |
Article II (Obstruction of Congress) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yea | Nay | Present | Yea | Nay | Present | |||||
| Democrat | 229 | 2 | 1 | Democrat | 228 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Republican | 195 | Republican | 195 | |||||||
| Independent | 1 | Independent | 1 | |||||||
| Total | 230 | 197 | 1 | Total | 229 | 198 | 1 | |||
| Adopted | Adopted | |||||||||
Senate trial[change | change source]
On January 10, 2020, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she had "asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler to be prepared to bring to the Floor next week a resolution to appoint managers and transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate".[3]
At the end of the January 21 session, the Senate voted along party lines to pass Mitch McConnell's proposed trial rules and reject 11 amendments proposed by Democrats.[7] The prosecution's opening arguments and presentation of evidence took place between January 22–24.[8] Trump's defense presentation began on January 25. The primary arguments were a lack of direct evidence of wrongdoing, and that Democrats were attempting to use the impeachment to steal the 2020 election. Under the U.S. Constitution, a two-thirds majority of the Senate is required to convict the president.
Verdict[change | change source]
On February 5, 2020 the Senate acquitted Trump on both count. The votes were 52-48 to acquit on the first count and 53-47 to acquit on the second count.[9]
| Article I (Abuse of power) |
Article II (Obstruction of Congress) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guilty | Not guilty | Guilty | Not guilty | ||||
| Democratic | 45 | 0 | Democratic | 45 | 0 | ||
| Republican | 1 | 52 | Republican | 0 | 53 | ||
| Independent | 2 | 0 | Independent | 2 | 0 | ||
| Totals | 48 | 52 | Totals | 47 | 53 | ||
| Not guilty | Not guilty | ||||||
Public approval polling[change | change source]
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Support[a] | Oppose[a] | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouGov/Yahoo! News[11] | Dec 4–6 | 1500 | ± 2.8% | 47% | 39% | 16% |
| Monmouth University[12] | Dec 4–8 | 903 | ± 3.3% | 45% | 50% | 5% |
| Fox News[13] | Dec 8–11 | 1000 | ± 3% | 50% | 41% | 5% |
| NPR / PBS NewsHour / Marist[14] | Dec 9–11 | 1508 | ± 3.5% | 46% | 49% | 5% |
| USA Today / Suffolk[15] | Dec 10–14 | 1000 | ± 3% | 45% | 50% | 5% |
| Quinnipiac University[16] | Dec 11–15 | 1390 | ± 4.1% | 45% | 51% | 4% |
| CNN / SSRS[17] | Dec 12–15 | 888 | ± 3.7% | 45% | 48% | 9% |
Notes[change | change source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 These polls are color-coded relative to the margin of error (×2 for spread). If the poll is within the doubled margin of error, both colors are used. If the margin of error is, for example, 2.5, then the spread would be 5, so a 50% support / 45% oppose would be tied.
References[change | change source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Fandos, Nicholas; Shear, Michael D. (December 18, 2019). "Trump Impeached for Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress – Voting nearly along party lines, the House approved two articles of impeachment against President Trump, making him the third president in history to face removal by the Senate". The New York Times. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
- ↑ Cite error: The named reference
McConnellyeswas used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page). - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Singman, Brooke (January 10, 2020). "Pelosi: House will move to transmit impeachment articles next week". Fox News. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
- ↑ Herb, Jeremy; Raju, Manu. "House debates impeachment of President Donald Trump ahead of historic vote Wednesday". CNN. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
- ↑ "House Judiciary reveals witnesses for first impeachment hearing". Politico. December 2, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
- ↑ "The Worst Congress Ever". Rolling Stone. October 17, 2006. Archived from the original on November 30, 2006.
- ↑ Fox, Lauren; Raju, Manu; Herb, Jeremy (January 20, 2020). "Impeachment resolution shortens trial's opening arguments to two days per side". CNN. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
- ↑ Benjamin Siegel; Trish Turner; Katherine Faulders; Stephanie Ebbs; Quinn Owen (January 22, 2020). "Senate impeachment trial live updates: Democrats make their case against Trump". ABC News.
- ↑ "How senators voted on Trump's impeachment". Politico. February 5, 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
- ↑ Fandos, Nicholas (February 5, 2020). "Trump Acquitted of Two Impeachment Charges in Near Party-Line Vote". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Yahoo News! Impeachment Tracker" (PDF).
- ↑ Murray, Patrick (December 11, 2019). "Most Say Trump Hindered Inquiry, But Impeachment Opinion is Unmoved". Monmouth.edu. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
- ↑ "Fox News Poll results December 8-11, 2019". Fox News. December 15, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
- ↑ (PDF) http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/UPDATED_NPR_PBS-NewsHour_Marist-Poll_USA-NOS-and-Tables_1912131159.pdf#page=3. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Cummings, Susan Page, Nicholas Wu and William. "USA TODAY poll: Narrow majority opposes removing Trump from office if he is impeached". USA TODAY. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
- ↑ University, Quinnipiac. "QU Poll Release Detail". QU Poll. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
- ↑ Agiesta, Jennifer. "CNN Poll: The nation remains divided on impeachment as House vote approaches". CNN. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
