A new step has been taken in the impeachment procedure against Donald Trump. The Judicial Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives validated Friday, December 13, the charges against the American president, the fourth in the history of the United States to find himself in this situation.
The members of the commission approved, by 23 votes to 17, the two articles of this procedure of "impeachment", one accusing Donald Trump of abuse of power, the other of obstructing the work of Congress.
Responding to the White House press, Trump joked that the vote was "a sad thing for the country" but one that he feels is "very good for him politically".
The Democrats, the majority in the House of Representatives, accuse him of having tried to put pressure on the Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelenski, so that Kiev opens an investigation into the activities in Ukraine of the son of Joe Biden, his potential Democratic opponent during of the presidential election of November 2020.
They also accuse him of having obstructed their investigation by blocking the transmission of documents and the testimony of his main advisers, but also through unsuccessful attempts to prevent further depositions and intimidate witnesses.
The representatives should go in the same direction as the committee during a vote in plenary session, which will be organized next week, probably Wednesday.
The Republican Party closes the ranks behind Donald Trump
A trial would then take place in the Senate, where the Republicans, the majority, would be able to obstruct the procedure, especially as a qualified majority of two thirds is necessary to remove a president.
Twice in American history, the House of Representatives has ruled in favor of the impeachment of a president - Andrew Johnson after the Civil War and Bill Clinton in 1998 - but, in both cases, the procedure ran into a Senate veto.
Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, in the midst of the "Watergate" scandal, before the vote in plenary session in the House of Representatives.
Since the start of the procedure on September 24, the Republican Party has closed ranks behind Trump, accusing the Democrats of instructing a politicized procedure to try to reverse their 2016 presidential defeat.
With Reuters
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