Trump goes on twitter frenzy as Congress votes on historic impeachment

Trump goes on twitter frenzy as Congress votes on historic impeachment
Democrats and Republicans are going head to head for a historic vote on whether to impeach US President Donald Trump. The President will be absent from proceedings.
3 min read
18 December, 2019
Trump is set to be the third US President in history to be impeached [Getty]
US President Donald Trump woke up in the White House on Wednesday morning to confront the prospect of becoming the third US president in history to be impeached.

As the House of Representative prepares to vote on two articles of impeachment, which charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, the US president took to Twitter to air his grievances.

He has tweeted or re-tweeted 45 times since House members began debate this morning.

The debate begins

As proceedings began in Washington, Republicans bought a motion to the House floor to adjourn the impeachment.  While it failed, the delay lasted twenty minutes.

Members of the House are now debating house rules, which will structure how the debate on the articles of impeachment will proceed. The debate itself is expected to take in excess of six hours.

Trump’s schedule for the day is set be clear for the most part. He has expressly indicated that he will not be watching the impeachment debate on the House floor.

Tensions between Republicans loyal to Trump and Democrats, who deem him unfit for office for his conduct in pressuring Ukraine to investigate political rivals and his refusal to cooperate in the ensuing congressional probe, have been boiling for years.

The showdown will reach its historic conclusion at Capitol hill, with a final vote on Wednesday.

#MerryImpeachmas

Impeachment supporters used the hashtafe #MerryImpeachmas on Wednesday morning, demanding that Trump be impeached


On Tuesday, rallies were held from Washington, DC, to New York City and St Paul, Minnesota to Phoenix, Arizona, with protesters demanding Trump be impeached over his dealings with Ukraine. 

Profound disgrace

A tally compiled by The Associate Press has found that a majority of House members will approve the charges and send them to the Senate for a trial next month.

While this means Trump is heading for impeachment, the GOP-led Senate is not expected to allow Trump's removal from from office.

In any case, Trump will be subject to what former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter have referred to as a “profound disgrace”, which stains a president’s legacy for eternity.

Only two presidents have ever been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998.

On Tuesday, President Trump filed an angry letter to Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representative, telling her that history would judge her “harshly”.

He accused the veteran Democratic politician of breaking her “alliance to the constitution” and “declaring open war on American Democracy”

Read more: Trump pens angry letter to House on eve of impeachment vote

Traumatic for anyone but Trump

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a House minority leader, who huddled with the President at the White House on Tuesday evening, insisted that Trump remained focused on moving his agenda even as he legacy was set to be irreversibly tarnished.

For anyone else, McCarthy said, “this would be traumatic for them”.

Trump will head to the 2020 battleground state of Michigan on Wednesday evening for a campaign rally. “I’ve never seen a man so strong…He is focused on what the American people need.”, added McCarthy

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