Washington (CNN) - House Democrats are hours from crossing a somber point of no political return as they get set to roll out articles of impeachment Tuesday accusing President Donald Trump of abusing power and obstructing Congress.
The momentous step toward making Trump only the third president to be formally impeached in nearly two-and-a-half centuries of US history comes in a tumultuous third year of his term and only 11 months before the next general election.
"This is not a happy day," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, one of several key Democratic leaders expected to make a formal announcement on Tuesday morning. "But I think we are doing what we have to do."
Democrats have accused the President of abusing his power by withholding nearly $400 million in US military aid to Ukraine and the prospect of a visit to the Oval Office by new President Volodymyr Zelensky in order to coerce the former Soviet state into investigating potential 2020 foe Joe Biden. Such conduct, they say, is worthy of impeachment because it amounts to bribery, puts Trump's own political goals ahead of America's national interests and effectively invited a foreign power to interfere in a US election.
"The scheme by President Trump was so brazen, so clear, supported by documents, actions, sworn testimony, uncontradicted contemporaneous records that it's hard to imagine that anybody could dispute those acts, let alone argue that that conduct does not constitute an impeachable offense or offenses," said Barry Berke, presenting the case against Trump for the Democrats in a Judiciary Committee hearing on Monday.
Republicans have struggled to counter the facts laid out by witnesses drawn from ranks of foreign policy and military officers. But they deny Trump did anything wrong at all, let alone anything that reaches the level of impeachment.
"It's a disgrace. A hoax," the President said at the White House on Monday, without bothering to counter any of the evidence.
The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, meanwhile accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of rushing to impeachment -- with expectations that Democrats will hold a full House vote on the issue next week.
"The speaker of the House after hearing one day of testimony in the Judiciary Committee, said, 'Go write articles.' Facts be damned," Collins said.
Full story at https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/10/politics/donald-trump-impeachment/index.html
Did Trump just covertly say 'FUCK YOU CUNT" to Pelosi in letter?
Trump impeached by the House on both articles:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/live-blog/live-updates-house-votes-impeachment-president-trump-n1103576
Trump impeachment: US House ready for historic vote
Donald Trump is set to become the third US president in history to be impeached later by the House of Representatives.
Democratic lawmakers are expected to approve two impeachment charges against the Republican president on Wednesday.
Mr Trump is scheduled to face a trial in the Senate next month, but that chamber is controlled by members of his party and it is unlikely to vote that he should be removed from office.
The president has called the process an "attempted coup" and a "witch hunt".
In a six-page letter on the eve of the vote, Mr Trump argued he had been denied his rights "from the beginning of this impeachment scam".
He has blocked top aides from testifying before lawmakers in the House and declined an invitation to appear himself.
On Tuesday, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced the vote on both charges.
Mrs Pelosi wrote to colleagues that impeachment is "one of the most solemn powers granted to us by the Constitution", and called it a "very prayerful moment in our nation's history".
More at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50834324
Trump is just 67 votes away from being an ex-President and it's freaking him out
(CNN) - Hillary Clinton's nearly 66 million votes in the 2016 election weren't enough to defeat Donald Trump. But just over 0.0001% of that could end Trump's presidency. That's the reality of what Trump faces if he is formally impeached by the House of Representatives later this week, as is expected, prompting a removal trial in the Senate. In such a trial, the Constitution simply requires two-thirds of the Senate, in this case 67 senators, to vote to convict and remove -- then it's goodbye Trump. Trump's fate lies in the hands of 20 GOP senators -- the number needed to join the 45 Democratic senators and two independent senators, who normally side with Democrats, to vote to convict him and end his presidency, assuming they all vote to remove Trump. Yes, it's a huge long shot that 20 Republican senators will vote to send Trump packing, especially given Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's statement last week saying there's "no chance" that Trump will be removed. But as a former trial lawyer, I can tell you that jurors don't always do as expected. And there's always the possibility that more incriminating evidence is revealed about Trump between now and the start of the trial. Even the most secure of US presidents would be unnerved at the prospect that their political demise is only 67 votes away. And while Trump has been called a lot of things, "secure" is not one of them. This is the same Trump who just days ago took to Twitter to despicably mock 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg, likely because she beat him out for the title of Time magazine's "Person of the Year." Adding to Trump's stress level are comments like the one made by former GOP Senator Jeff Flake, who recently declared that there would be "at least 35" Republican senators who would vote to remove Trump if ballots were kept secret. That number may be a bit high, but Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy stated a few weeks ago that he thinks there are at least five GOP senators already likely to vote with Democrats. Any doubt that Trump is running this math through his head over and over, trying to figure out if he mocked or angered enough Republican senators that could spell his political doom? Of course, what gives Trump protection is that his GOP base backs him solidly, and any Republican senators who vote to remove Trump could expect to receive their wrath. And while the Trump campaign publicly claims that impeachment will help Trump win in 2020 by firing up his base, Trump's own Twitter is a glimpse of a President in full panic mode. On Thursday, Trump unleashed a barrage of 123 tweets during the House Judiciary Committee debate on the articles of impeachment, many commenting on the hearings, including one instance where he accused two Democratic members of the House of lying. That set a record for the most tweets by Trump in a single day, eclipsing his record of 105 tweets set just days before, on Sunday, where he also took aim at the impeachment process numbers.
Full story at https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/15/opinions/trump-votes-impeachment-obeidallah/index.html
Well listen up you motherfuckers!!!!!!!
It appears more likely the Dems are passing the point of no return themselves heh.
Trump could hardly give two fucks about this farcical charade of an impeachment because bears no real consequence. He's focused on more important matters, such as busy preparing for his re election.
FUCK 'EM DEMOCRATS, TRUMP WILL RIDE THIS OUT UNSCATHED AND DESTROY THESE SYCOPHANTIC STUCK-UPS AT THE NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS! TRUMP FTW!!!!!!!!