House approves impeachment inquiry

232-196 vote shows Trump’s hold on his party

Nancy Pelosi, who usually mingles with her members during votes, stood at the House rostrum and wielded the gavel Thursday when the chamber she leads voted to expand and open a public phase of its inquiry into impeaching Donald Trump.

But while Speaker Pelosi proclaimed it a “very solemn and prayerful” moment, the result showed the same partisanship and rancour that has dominated Congress in the Trump era.

Republican unity against the measure that passed 232-196 reflects Trump’s ironclad hold over his own party, as well as Congress’s more harshly partisan lines since Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings 21 years ago.

Not a single Republican voted to support the resolution, which spells out the process for the probe into what Democrats say was an effort by President Trump to pressure Ukraine’s leader to investigate Democrat Joe Biden before a possible 2020 presidential faceoff.

Only two Democrats defected to vote with Republicans against the measure — a stunning result for Pelosi, who has tread carefully on impeachment to protect Democrats who will be seeking re-election next year in Gop-leaning districts.

New Jersey Democrat Jeff Van Drew, one of the Democrats who did oppose the measure, told reporters afterward that he supports his party, but wishes the resolution had adopted rules used during the Clinton impeachment. He said ultimately the evidence presented will determine whether Trump should be impeached by the House.

Pelosi portrayed the vote as a first step in fulfilling a responsibility enshrined in the Constitution.

“No one comes to Congress to impeach a president,” she said. Pelosi cast her own vote, which House speakers do only when they are needed to win a majority or in especially historic moments.

If the House eventually votes to impeach Trump, that would set up a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate. Trump would not be removed from office unless the Senate votes to convict him by a two-thirds margin, something that looks unlikely as congressional Republicans have been reluctant to move against the president.

The U.S. Constitution gives the House broad authority to set ground rules for an impeachment inquiry and Democrats say they are following House rules on investigations.

In 1998, 31 Democrats supported a probe into allegations that Democrat Clinton lied under oath about a sexual relationship with a White House intern. This time Republicans weren’t just in lockstep behind their party’s president. They also showed their disdain for the proceedings by barely showing up, with just 20 Republican lawmakers and aides filling seats on the GOP side of the chamber during much of the debate on a matter that leaders in both parties said had historic implications.

The Democratic side of the chamber had about five times the seats filled.

House Minority Leader Kevin Mccarthy mocked the resolution, saying it was only fitting it take place on Halloween.

“This Congress’s record is more subpoenas than law — that’s the legacy,” Mccarthy said.

The vote tally was a win for Louisiana Republican Steve Scalise, the minority whip who’s responsible for counting GOP votes. He brought a prop onto the House floor — a poster with a picture of the Kremlin that read, “37 Days of Soviet-style Impeachment Proceedings” — to argue that the closed-door process conducted so far deprives Trump of due process.

The vote was hardly a cliffhanger, and the parties’ entrenched positions are likely to hold for both parties heading into a more intense phase of witness questioning and public hearings.

After the vote, Scalise said time will tell if the GOP stays united behind Trump as the process proceeds, in part because no one knows exactly what charges Trump will face. But he said he sees the president as gaining ground with the Republican rank and file as the economy continues to grow and after a military victory with the death of a key Islamic State leader.

“There is no high crime or misdemeanour that’s been identified or laid out,” Scalise said.

“And that’s the standard in the Constitution.”