Trump Impeachment: What The House Democrats And Republicans Have Said About Wednesday's Vote

The House moved Wednesday toward impeaching President Trump along partisan lines with Republicans and Democrats trading diametrically opposed interpretations of the president’s actions, Republicans arguing no impeachable offenses have been alleged and Democrats saying the very foundations of democracy are being threatened.

Trump monitored the proceedings, at one point tweeting in all caps that the process was riddled with “atrocious lies” and amounted to an “assault on America.”

The House set six hours of debate on two articles of impeachment, accusing Trump of abusing the power of his office for personal gain and preventing Congress from investigating his conduct.

“I solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the president of the United States. If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty. It is tragic that the president’s reckless actions make impeachment necessary,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in opening the debate.

House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern called the debate a “defining moment” in democracy while the ranking Republican on the panel, Tom Cole, called it a “sad day” and an “unfair and rushed process [with] a predetermined result.”

Democrats need a simple majority to approve the articles, which accuse Trump of attempting to pressure Ukraine into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and a debunked conspiracy theory promoted by Moscow that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that attempted to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election in exchange for $391 million in military aid and then tried to block the congressional investigation of his conduct.

Once the impeachment articles are approved, the process moves to the Senate where 67 votes would be needed to remove Trump from office. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., already has said there’s “no chance” that will happen.

The House voted 228 to 197 to proceed with the debate, with just two Democrats voting against the process. A New York Times analysis indicated 225 representatives are in favor of impeachment, 178 are against and 28 have not revealed their positions.

“This is a terrible scar opened up by the Democrats on this country,” Rep. Doug Collins said.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said between speakers that Republicans had presented no evidence that the charges are false.

“I hear attacks on Democratic members of Congress but not one word of substantive defense,” Nadler said.

Collins countered: "President Zelensky said there's no pressure. President Trump said there's no pressure. And we saw that the aid was actually given with no conditional attachments."

“President Trump’s conduct is both impeachable and criminal,” Nadler said.

“This day is about one thing and one thing only. They hate this president. They hate those of us who voted for him. They think we are stupid. They think we made a mistake. They think Hillary Clinton should be the president and they want to fix that,” Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, said.

Nadler countered: “I would remind the gentleman if President Trump is impeached and removed, the new president would be Mike Pence, not Hillary Clinton.”

"[Trump] has so debased that office with his threats and his temper tantrums, but more to the point he has sacrificed our national security," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who led the impeachment investigation.

You can watch the live stream below: