Donald Trump has been impeached by the House of Representatives.
In a history-making vote that will force the President to stand trial in the Senate early next year, Congressmen and women from across the country impeached Trump on two charges:
- Abuse of power.
- Obstruction of Congress.
Both articles are in connection with a scandal in which Trump withheld federally-approved aid from the country of Ukraine unless that nation opened an investigation into Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Trump — who has denied wrongdoing at every turn, despite testimony to the contrary from those in his own administration — is only the third president in United States history to be impeached.
Said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking immediately after the votes, today is “a great day for the Constitution,” but “a sad day for America.”
By a vote of 230 to 197 (and one present vote by Tulsi Gabbard), the House’s Democratic majority overcame Republican resistance in the minority for the abuse of power charge.
And by a vote of 229 to 198 (with one present vote by Tulsi Gabbard), the House voted for the obstruction of Congress charge.
“I could not be prouder or more inspired by the moral courage of the House Democrats,” Pelosi added, continuing as follows:
“We never asked one of them how they were going to vote. We never whipped this vote.”
She added:
“I view this day, this vote, as something that we did to honor the vision of our founders to establish a republic, the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform to defend our democracy and the republic, and the aspirations of our children that they will always live in a democracy, and we have tried too do everything we can to make sure that that is their reality.”
Trump, of course, sees things differently.
While speaking at a rally in Michigan during the impeachment vote, the Commander-in-Chief predicted “Americans will show up by the tens of millions next year to vote Pelosi the hell out of office.”
Before that potentially happens, however, Trump will be tried in the Republican-controlled Senate.
A conviction would require the votes of nearly two dozen Republican senators — and is considered highly, highly improbable.
The Senate trial is expected in early January.
For the record, an American president has never been removed from office via impeachment.
Both Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were impeached, yet were later acquitted in the Senate.
President Richard Nixon resigned before he could be impeached and face trial over the Watergate scandal.
In this case, President Trump withheld around $400 million in military aid from Ukraine while he pushed Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to dig into Biden and Biden’s family, along with a probe in regard to a conspiracy theory about the 2016 election.
He’s then accused of stonewalling all attempts by investigators to uncover the truth about what happened.
Because this is still a celebrity gossip website, we’ll conclude with some reactions from some folks you may care about…
Cole Sprouse: “Bye. Bye. Sack of [poop emoji].”
Hailey Bieber: “Bye Felicia.”
Jordyn Woods: “What a time to be alive.”
Alyssa Milano: “I expected this moment but I expected to be more joyful. Maybe jump up & do a happy dance. Maybe. But I’m just sad and heartbroken.
“What he’s left behind can’t be erased with this vote. The bigotry and xenophobia he’s emboldened. The lies. It will take generations to recover.”