KidzSearch Wiki

First impeachment of Donald Trump

The first 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.

First impeachment of Donald Trump
House of Representatives Votes to Adopt the Articles of Impeachment Against Donald Trump.jpg
Members of House of Representatives vote
on two articles of impeachment (H. Res. 755)
AccusedDonald Trump, President of the United States[1]
Proponents
DateDecember 18, 2019 to February 5, 2020
OutcomeImpeached by the House of Representatives;[1][2][3] found not guilty by the Senate
ChargesAbuse of power, obstruction of Congress
CauseAllegations that Trump unlawfully solicited Ukrainian authorities to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election
Congressional votes
Voting in the U.S. House of Representatives
AccusationArticle I – abuse of power
Votes in favor230
Votes against197
Present1
Not voting3
ResultArticle approved; Donald Trump impeached
AccusationArticle II – obstruction of Congress
Votes in favor229
Votes against198
Present1
Not voting3
ResultArticle approved
Voting in the U.S. Senate
AccusationArticle I – abuse of power
Votes in favor48
Votes against52
ResultAcquitted
AccusationArticle II – obstruction of Congress
Votes in favor47
Votes against53
ResultAcquitted

House trial

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 Resolution 755—Articles of Impeachment Against President Donald J. Trump

  • Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces the vote count on Article I of House Resolution 755.

  • Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces the vote count on Article II of House Resolution 755.

House vote

Voting results on House Resolution 755
(Articles of Impeachment Against President Donald J. Trump)
Article I
(Abuse of power) 		Article II
(Obstruction of Congress)
Yea Nay Present Yea Nay Present
Democrat 229 002 001 Democrat 228 003 001
Republican 195 Republican 195
Independent 001 Independent 001
Total 230 197 001 Total 229 198 001
Adopted Adopted

Senate trial

Main page: Impeachment trial of Donald Trump

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

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]

Voting results[10]
Article I
(Abuse of power) 		Article II
(Obstruction of Congress)
Guilty Not guilty Guilty Not guilty
Democratic 45 00 Democratic 45 00
Republican 01 52 Republican 00 53
Independent 02 00 Independent 02 00
Totals 48 52 Totals 47 53
Not guilty Not guilty

Public approval polling

Polling of support for the impeachment and removal of Trump from office among Americans
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%

First Impeachment Of Donald Trump Media

  • "Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors" by Congressman Brad Sherman

  • Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Donald Trump in New York City on September 25, 2019

  • Open hearing testimony of Fiona Hill and David Holmes on November 21, 2019

  • Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States—Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives

  • Articles of impeachment read into the Congressional Record by Reading Clerk Joe Novotny

  • Steny Hoyer's full statement ahead of house vote

  • House votes on Article I and II of House Resolution 755

  • Nancy Pelosi engrossing the articles of impeachment on January 15, 2020

  • Donald Trump holds up a copy of The Washington Post reporting his acquittal during remarks on February 6, 2020, in the East Room of the White House

Related pages

Notes

  1. ↑ 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

  1. ↑ 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. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/us/politics/trump-impeached.html. Retrieved December 18, 2019. 
  2. ↑ Everett, Burgess (January 9, 2020). "McConnell tells Republicans he expects impeachment trial next week". Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/09/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment-096786. Retrieved January 10, 2020. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Singman, Brooke (January 10, 2020). "Pelosi: House will move to transmit impeachment articles next week". Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-articles-of-impeachment-will-be-sent-to-senate-to-allow-trump-trial-to-begin-next-week. Retrieved January 10, 2020. 
  4. ↑ Herb, Jeremy; Raju, Manu. "House debates impeachment of President Donald Trump ahead of historic vote Wednesday". CNN. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  5. ↑ "House Judiciary reveals witnesses for first impeachment hearing". Politico. December 2, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  6. ↑ "The Worst Congress Ever". Rolling Stone. October 17, 2006. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever/6. 
  7. ↑ Fox, Lauren; Raju, Manu; Herb, Jeremy (January 20, 2020). "Impeachment resolution shortens trial's opening arguments to two days per side". CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/20/politics/senate-organizing-resolution-released/index.html. Retrieved January 20, 2020. 
  8. ↑ Benjamin Siegel; Trish Turner; Katherine Faulders; Stephanie Ebbs; Quinn Owen (January 22, 2020). Senate impeachment trial live updates: Democrats make their case against Trump. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senate-impeachment-trial-live-updates-democrats-make-case/story?id=68448840. 
  9. ↑ "How senators voted on Trump's impeachment". Politico. February 5, 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  10. ↑ Fandos, Nicholas (February 5, 2020). "Trump Acquitted of Two Impeachment Charges in Near Party-Line Vote". The New York Times.
  11. ↑ "Yahoo News! Impeachment Tracker" (PDF).
  12. ↑ Murray, Patrick (December 11, 2019). "Most Say Trump Hindered Inquiry, But Impeachment Opinion is Unmoved". Monmouth.edu. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Fox News Poll results December 8-11, 2019". Fox News. December 15, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Nature of the Sample: NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll of 1,744 National Adults" (PDF).
  15. ↑ 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.
  16. ↑ University, Quinnipiac. "QU Poll Release Detail". QU Poll. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  17. ↑ Agiesta, Jennifer. "CNN Poll: The nation remains divided on impeachment as House vote approaches". CNN. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.kidzsearch.com/w/index.php?title=First_impeachment_of_Donald_Trump&oldid=5389952"