The House Judiciary Committee has voted along party lines to send two articles of impeachment to the full House for a vote--abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, effectively recommending that he be impeached.
After a 14-plus hour debate Thursday, the vote was actually something of an anticlimax, but one that the major broadcast and cable nets carried live.
The committee vote was held only moments after chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) gaveled the committee back into session and took less than 10 minutes.
The committee voted on the two articles separately. The votes were the same, 23 Democrats yes, 17 Republicans no. Democrat Ted Lieu (Calif.) was absent due to illness.
The House is expected to hold a vote on impeachment next week. If so, Trump would be only the third President to be impeached.
The Senate would then hold a trial over whether he would be removed from office, which Senate Republicans have signaled isn't happening.
Following the vote, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA.) said the impeachment effort has been an "ambush" and "railroading" of the President and that he would have advised the President not to participate, which the President did not.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) called the Democrats' impeachment effort an abuse of process and a witch hunt, echoing the President. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said he plans not to call any witnesses in the Senate trial if it comes to that and get it over ASAP, but Gohmert said he thought they should.
At press time the President had not tweeted on the vote, focusing instead on a new China trade agreement he said has been hammered out.
