The United States House of Representatives voted largely along party lines to impeach President Donald Trump for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power related to his dealings with Ukraine.
This action makes him the third president in US history to be impeached by the full House. The decision by the house set up a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate likely to hold in January.
“It is tragic that the president’s reckless actions, make impeachment necessary”
“He gave us no choice,” Pelosi said.
“The president is an ongoing threat to our national security, and the integrity of our elections, the basis of our democracy.”
At a rally holding at about the same time in Michigan, Trump denied any wrongdoing.
“Tonight the House Democrats are trying to nullify the ballots of tens of millions of patriotic Americans,” Trump told the crowd.
At the centre of the Democrats impeachment of Trump was a July 25 telephone call the president had with newly elected Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump urged Zelenskyy in the call to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter, who was had served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.
Joe Biden is a leading contender in the race for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. There has been no evidence of any wrongdoing by the Bidens.
Democrats allege Trump abused the power of the US presidency by organising a scheme to extort a promise from Zelenskyy. At the time of the call, Trump was withholding $391m in military aid to help Ukraine defend against Russia.
Trump further conditioned a White House meeting for Zelenskyy on Ukraine announcing an investigation on a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 US elections, according to witness testimony.
Updates will be given as the story progresses.
Culled from Aljazeera news.