- President Calls for Prayers As White House Hits BackĀ
A flood tide of reactions have been trailing the impeachment of the 45th President of the U.S, Donald J. Trump on Wednesday by the House of Representatives over abuse of power and obstruction of Congress investigation.
However, two-third of votes are still needed to finalize the impeachment process when trial begins at the U.S Senate, dominated by Senators from Trump’s Republican party.
Trump became the third U.S President after Andrew Johnson (1868) and Bill Clinton (1998) to be impeached by House legislators, following a fierce debate and vote on two articles of impeachment against him after weeks of testimony related to his dealings with Ukraine.
The House voted 230-197 to impeach Trump for abusing his power in his dealings with Ukraine and another 229-198 for obstruction of justice, as both articles of impeachment were passed.
House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who kicked off the impeachment debate in a lengthy speech said the action was āone of the most solemn powers this body can take.ā
āNo member, regardless of political or party, comes to Congress to impeach a president,ā said Pelosi.
Speaker Pelosi noted that Trump had pursued an āimproper personal benefitā at āthe expense of our national security,ā which āgave us no choiceā but to impeach.
āIf we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duties,ā Pelosi added.
Many commentators from around the world have been drawing positives from the impeachment, enunciating on how democracies can develop strong institutions that will strengthen the concept of the separation of power as a principle that every healthy democracy must thrive upon.
The global reactions were instantaneous and trendy too as top politicians, celebrities and social media users at large continue to weigh in on the House final decision:
https://twitter.com/cliqik/status/1207565964788678656?s=19
https://twitter.com/IamTheIroko/status/1207565546004373506?s=19
Trump: ‘Say a Prayer’
The US President while reacting to the impeachment news called for prayers from supporters, denying any wrongdoing. Trump noted that his interest in launching the investigations against likely foe in the 2020 presidential race, Democrat’s Joe Biden in Ukraine was legitimate because he wanted to eradicate corruption.
He described the impeachment inquiry as āshamā and āhoaxā.
Trump tweeted: āI DID NOTHING WRONGā.
āCan you believe that I will be impeached today by the Radical left, Do Nothing Democrats, AND I DID NOTHING WRONG! A terrible Thing. Read the transcripts. This should never happen to another President again. Say a PRAYER!ā
White House Kicks
Meanwhile, the White House has hit back at lawmakers after Trump was impeached, slamming the āillegitimate articles of impeachmentā and voicing confidence the president would be acquitted in the Senate.
āDemocrats have chosen to proceed on this partisan basis in spite of the fact that the President did absolutely nothing wrong,ā spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement, calling the votes in the House of Representatives an āunconstitutional travestyā.
Grisham said that there were no fact witnesses in the hearing and alleged bias by the Democrats.
āThe President is confident the Senate will restore regular order, fairness, and due process, all of which were ignored in the House proceedings.
āHe is prepared for the next steps and confident that he will be fully exonerated,ā the statement said, referring to the upcoming trial in the upper chamber.
Trump was alleged to have blocked the payment of a congressionally mandated $400 million military aid package to obtain quid pro quo cooperation from, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
He eventually released the aid package.
The U.S. President was accused to have pressured Ukrainian President to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter over Hunterās involvement with the Ukrainian natural-gas company Burisma Holdings.
President Trump also reportedly asked President Zelensky to look into the conspiracy theory alleging Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
