The US House of Representatives has voted to move forward its impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, putting a congressional stamp on the historic bid to remove him from office.
The House, where the Democrats hold the majority, voted 232 to 196 on a resolution that spelled out the process for how the impeachment inquiry will progress.
It is the first time in 21 years that the House has backed an impeachment inquiry, something that only three other US presidents have faced in history.
The vote split down party lines, with every Republican opposing the resolution and all but two Democrats voting for it.
The result means that the impeachment inquiry will soon enter a public phase, with open hearings due to take place with key witnesses in the Ukraine scandal.
It will also give both Republican and Democrat members the chance to question those people giving testimony while the nation watches.
Process of impeachment
The resolution was a response to fierce criticism from Republicans, from Mr Trump down, about the behind-closed-doors nature of the probe to date.
But it is also a symbolic and historic moment, the first time the House has voted on this impeachment inquiry into Mr Trump.
Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton are the only other US presidents that have faced an inquiry tasked with considering whether they should be removed from office.
The White House immediately released a statement condemning the vote, indicating it will not change its stance of non-cooperation with the investigation.
Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, said that Mr Trump had done “nothing wrong” and that the Democrats had an “unhinged obsession” with getting rid of the president.
“The Democrats want to render a verdict without giving the Administration a chance to mount a defense. That is unfair, unconstitutional, and fundamentally un-American,” she said.
Minutes after the vote, Mr Trump tweeted: "The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!"
The inquiry, which is investigating whether Mr Trump committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” by urging Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, has been running for 37 days. It was launched by the Democrats without a vote.
Mr Biden, the former US vice president, is one of the front-runners to win the Democratic presidential nomination for the 2020 election. The winner of that contest will face Mr Trump next November.
The Democratic leadership will be pleased that all but two of its members backed the resolution to progress the inquiry. Around a third of House Democrats had been against such a move a few months ago.
The two Democrats who voted against the resolution were Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey. Both of their districts voted for Mr Trump in the 2016 election.
However the White House will take heart from the fact that not a single Republican member backed the resolution. A vote split almost perfectly along party lines will help its attempt to portray the impeachment inquiry as being pursued for political reasons.
One independent member, Justin Amash of Michigan, voted for the resolution. He was a Republican but left the party in July after repeatedly clashing with the party leadership.
The debate on the floor of the House on Thursday revealed the wide gap between Republicans and Democrats on the necessity of the inquiry.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House speaker, spoke standing next to an American flag as she urged her colleagues to vote to move forward with the impeachment process.
"What is at stake in all of this is nothing less than our democracy. I proudly stand next to the flag,” Ms Pelosi said. "So many have fought and died for this flag, which stands for our democracy.”
Ms Pelosi, along with many of her Democratic colleagues, said that she took no “glee or comfort” from impeachment, framing the inquiry vote as a “solemn occasion” which amounted to protecting the US Constitution.
Other Democrat House members argued there was “evidence” that Mr Trump has committed impeachable offences and urged others to consider what people would say in 100 years time if they voted to block the inquiry.
Where now? | Next steps in the impeachment inquiry
However Republican after Republican used the debate to dismiss the impeachment inquiry as a “show trial” and a “total sham”, calling the vote a “dark day” for American democracy.
Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican member in the House, said that Democrats were pushing impeachment in an attempt to “influence” next year’s presidential election.
"Democrats are trying to impeach the president because they are scared they cannot defeat him at the ballot box,” he said.
He jokingly noted the vote was being held on Halloween as he framed the impeachment inquiry as a fiercely partisan attempt to overturn the 2016 election result.
Steve Scalise, a senior Republican in the House, appeared alongside a red poster bearing a sickle and hammer and Red Square imagery as he derided the “Soviet-style” impeachment proceedings.
Mr Scalise said that the Democrats were abusing their majority on the House committees which are leading the impeachment inquiry to “run roughshod” over convention.
Mr Trump, who has been defiant in the face of the inquiry, tweeted “READ THE TRANSCRIPT!” as the debate went on.
He has argued the transcript of a July 25 call he had with the Ukrainian president, where he urged an investigation into Mr Biden, was “perfect”.
He later tweeted:
The Impeachment Hoax is hurting our Stock Market. The Do Nothing Democrats don’t care!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2019
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