WASHINGTON —  The House Judiciary Committee pushed deliberately toward a historic vote Thursday to approve articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, split sharply along party lines.

The daylong session was expected to end with charges being sent to the full House for action next week, before the holidays.

House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment against Trump on Tuesday — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

If the vote passes, then comes a Senate trial.

The committee, made up of some of the most strident Democrats and Republicans in Congress, clashed for hours in pointed and at times emotional debate, drawing on history and the Constitution to argue over the two charges. Trump is accused, in the first article, of abusing his presidential power by asking Ukraine to investigate his 2020 rival, Joe Biden, while holding military aid as leverage, and, in the second, of obstructing Congress by blocking the House’s efforts to probe his actions.

Trump is only the fourth U.S. president to face impeachment proceedings and the first to be running for reelection at the same time. He insists he did nothing wrong and blasts the Democrats’ effort daily as a sham and harmful to America. Republican allies seem unwavering in their opposition to expelling Trump, and he claims to be looking ahead to swift acquittal in a Senate trial.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi sounded confident Thursday that Democrats, who once tried to avoid a solely partisan effort, will have the votes to impeach the president without Republican support when the full House votes next week. But she said it was up to individual lawmakers to weigh the evidence.

On Thursday morning, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, offered an amendment to do away with the first article of impeachment, "Abuse of Power." Jordan's argument is the same he has made for days, that it "ignores the truth and the facts" because he says Trump has done nothing wrong. 

Democrats disagree.

U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, a leading voice in the impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton, argues that Democrats' entire argument "is based on a charge (abuse of power) that's not a crime" and is "a vague and an ambiguous term."

"If that’s the best you got, you wasted a whole lot of time," he said.

Democrats said the impeachment articles fall under the charge of "high crimes and misdemeanors".

Lawmakers started a marathon two-day session to consider the historical charges with a lively prime-time hearing at the Capitol.

Democrats and Republicans used the otherwise procedural meeting Wednesday evening to deliver sharp, poignant and, at times, personal arguments for and against impeachment.

Both sides appealed to Americans' sense of history, with Democrats describing a strong sense of duty to stop what some have called the president's "constitutional crime spree" and Republicans decrying the "hot garbage" impeachment and what it means for the future of the country.

Jordan said Democrats are impeaching because "they don't like us" and read out a long list of Trump's accomplishments.

"It's not just because they don’t like the president, they don’t like us," Jordan added. "They don't like the 63 million people who voted for this president, all of us in flyover country, all of us common folk in Ohio, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Texas."

The committee is considering two articles of impeachment introduced by Democrats. They charge Trump with abuse of power for asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden while withholding aid as leverage and with obstruction of Congress for stonewalling the House’s investigation.

This all stems from a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

In the phone conversation, Trump asked for a "favor," according to an account provided by the White House. He wanted an investigation into both Democrats and Biden, a possible 2020 rival. Later it was revealed that the administration was also withholding $400 million in military aid from Ukraine.

Republicans argue the money was given to Ukraine without any investigation, and there was no quid pro quo, or favor for a favor.

Trump also wanted Hunter Biden, the former vice president's son, looked into. Hunter Biden sat on the board of the Ukrainian gas company called Burisma while his father was vice president.

On Thursday, the committee will likely vote to send the articles to the full House, which is expected to vote next week. That could come after hours of debate over Republican amendments, though the articles are not likely to be changed.

Democrats are unlikely to accept any amendments proposed by Republicans unified against Trump’s impeachment.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

This is a developing story. Check back for the latest from our Spectrum News DC reporters throughout the day.

 

 
LIVE UPDATES: Diplomats Publicly Questioned in Trump's Impeachment Inquiry