Trump impeachment effort passes first test A

‘Greatest Witch Hunt’ in US history, President says after House formalises process

deeply divided US House of Representatives took a major step in the effort to impeach President Donald Trump yesterday when lawmakers approved rules for the next stage, including public hearings, in the Democratic-led inquiry into Trump’s attempt to have Ukraine investigate a domestic political rival.

In the first formal test of support for the impeachment investigation, the Democraticcontrolled House voted almost entirely along party lines — 232 to 196 — to move the probe forward in Congress, which could damage Trump ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

The vote demonstrated unity among Democrats who accuse Trump of abusing his office and jeopardising national security. But they did not pick up a single Republican vote. “It’s a sad day. No one comes to Congress to impeach a president,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier.

Republicans accused Democrats of using impeachment to overturn the results of the 2016 election, and the White House said Democrats had an “unhinged obsession” with impeachment.

“The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!” Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

The probe focuses on a request by Trump to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymr Zelenskiy, to investigate Trump’s Democratic political rival Joe Biden, a former US vice-president, and his son Hunter, who had served as a director for Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

If the House eventually votes to impeach Trump, that would set up a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate. Trump would not be removed from office unless votes to convict him by a twothirds margin.

Democrats rammed a package of ground rules for their impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump through a sharply divided House yesterday, the chamber’s first formal vote in a fight that could stretch into the 2020 election year.

The vote was 232-196, with all Republicans against the resolution and two Democratic defectors joining them.

The vote laid down the rules as lawmakers transition from weeks of closed-door interviews with witnesses to public hearings and ultimately to possible votes on whether to recommend Trump’s removal from office. The action also took on more than technical meaning, with each party aware that the impeachment effort looms as a defining issue for next year’s presidential and congressional campaigns.

Democrats spoke of lawmakers’ duty to defend the Constitution, while Republicans cast the process as a skewed attempt

Committee members have asked a far more prominent player, former national security adviser John Bolton, to appear next week. Others have testified that Bolton was alarmed by a White House effort to pressure the president of Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political rivals. It was unclear whether Bolton would testify. His lawyer said he was not willing to appear unless a subpoena is issued. to railroad a president whom Democrats have detested since before he took office.

“What is at stake in all this is nothing less than our democracy,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat, California.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Republican, California, said Trump had done nothing impeachable and accused Democrats of trying to remove

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him “because they are scared they cannot defeat him at the ballot box.” Noting that elections are just a year away, he added, “Why do you not trust the people?”

No. 3 House GOP leader Steve Scalise, Republican, Louisiana, accused Democrats of imposing “Soviet-style rules,” speaking in front of a bright red poster depicting the Kremlin.

The investigation is focused on Trump’s efforts to push Ukraine to investigate his Democratic political opponents by withholding military aid and an Oval Office meeting craved by the country’s new president.

Democrats said the procedures are similar to rules used during the impeachment proceedings of Presidents Richard

Nixon and Bill Clinton. Republicans complained they were skewed against Trump.

It is likely to take weeks or more before the House decides whether to vote on actually impeaching Trump. If the House does vote for impeachment, the Senate would hold a trial to decide whether to remove the president from office.

GOP leaders called the rules “Speaker Pelosi’s sham process designed to discredit the Democratic process” in their daily impeachment email to lawmakers.

Pelosi decided to have the vote following weeks of GOP claims that the inquiry was invalid because the chamber had not voted to formally commence the work. The rules lay out how the House Intelligence Committee — now leading the investigation by deposing diplomats and other officials behind closed doors — would transition to public hearings.

That panel would issue a report and release transcripts of the closed-door interviews it has been conducting.