The Judicial Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives validated, Friday, December 13, the charges against Donald Trump in the impeachment procedure against the American president, the fourth in the history of the United States to find himself in this situation . Members of the commission approved two articles by twenty-three votes to seventeen: one accusing Donald Trump of abuse of power, the other obstructing the work of Congress.
Democrats, majority in the lower house of the American Congress, accuse him of having tried to put pressure on the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, so that Kiev opens an investigation on the activities in Ukraine of one of the son of Joe Biden , his potential Democratic opponent during the presidential election in November 2020. Responding to the press in the White House, Trump joked about this vote, a "Sad thing for the country", but who seems to him "Very good for him politically".
Vote in plenary in the coming days
Democratic parliamentarians also accuse him of having obstructed their investigation by blocking the transmission of documents and the testimony of his chief advisers, but also by vain attempts to prevent other depositions and to intimidate witnesses. Representatives are expected to move in the same direction as the committee in a plenary vote to be held next week, presumably Wednesday.
In the event of a vote in favor of continuing the process, a trial would then take place in the Senate. The Republicans, who are the majority, would be free to obstruct the procedure, especially since a qualified majority of two thirds is necessary to remove a president.
Twice in American history, the House of Representatives has voted for the impeachment of a president – Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 -; in both cases, the procedure was vetoed by the Senate. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, in the midst of the Watergate scandal, before the vote in plenary session in the House of Representatives.
