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Trump impeached on charge of abuse of power

Дональд Трамп

The US House of Representatives have voted to impeach President Donald Trump. He was found guilty of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Now Trump will face a trial in the Senate.

The vote on the first of the two articles – abuse of power – came in as 230 in favour and 197 against. The second vote – obstruction of justice – was carried by 229 to 198. No Republicans voted to impeach Trump.

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Now for the impeachment of Trump must vote in Congress. This outcome is considered almost unrealistic because Republicans have a majority in the Senate. During its entire history of the United States there were precedents when the house of representatives voted for the impeachment of the President. Such a decision was made against Andrew Johnson (in 1868) and Bill Clinton (in 1998). In both cases the Senate left american leaders in power.

The Senate is required to begin its trial once the speaker selects impeachment managers, a high-profile group of lawmakers who will make the House’s case to the Senate during its trial. House Democrats said Wednesday it was important to impeach the president, regardless of what the Senate does, to prevent interference in the 2020 election. A Senate trial is likely to begin in January.

What are consist the accusation against Trump?

At the centre of the Democrats’ impeachment of Trump was a July 25 telephone call the president had with then newly elected Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The US President urged Zelenskyy in the call to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden (leading contender in the race for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020) and his son, Hunter, who had served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

Democrats allege Trump abused the power of the US presidency by organising a scheme to extort a promise from Zelenskyy. At the time of the call, Trump was withholding $391m in military aid to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia. The House Intelligence Committee, together with the Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees, interviewed 17 witnesses and held five days of public hearings before producing a 300-page report showing Trump and key administration officials had pressured Zelenskyy.

The obstruction of Congress article is tied to Trump directing executive branch agencies and officials not to comply with congressional subpoenas. Several administration officials subsequently refused to testify during impeachment investigation.

According to critics of Trump, he exceeded the powers and violated the Constitution. The leader of the Americans claims that he simply demanded that Ukraine fight corruption. The President called the impeachment process a «the President Harassment» and «witch hunt».

«Every single Republican voted for us. … The Republican party has never been so affronted but they have never been so united as they are right now», Trump said.

Putin about impeachment of Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in annual news conference Thursday that Trump’s impeachment was based on «made-up reasons». He also expressed doubts that Trump will be removed from power.

«I actually really doubt that it is ending, it still has to go through Senate where as far as I know the Republicans hold the majority so it’s unlikely they will want to remove the representative of their party for some made-up reasons», said Putin.

The White House also sure that it was confident the US Senate would exonerate Trump in a trial after the House voted to impeach him for abusing his power and obstructing Congress.

«Democrats pushed illegitimate articles of impeachment against the president through the House of Representatives,” White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement», White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said.

In reality the Senate is made up of 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who are in a caucus with the Democrats. At least 20 Republicans would have to vote with all Democrats and the two independents to remove the president.

Trump is also confident the Senate will restore «order and fairness». The president is confident that he will be fully exonerated. He arrived in Michigan to speak at a campaign rally. Thousands waited in line to hear what the President had to say about impeachment. Trump suggests the state of Michigan will play a vitally important role in the 2020 election. This rally was the second-longest speech of Trump’s presidential career.

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