Putin: Trump impeachment is ‘far fetched’

RUSSIAN president Vladimir Putin has said US President Donald Trump’s impeachment is far-fetched.

Mr Putin said on Thursday at his annual news conference in Moscow that the move is a continuation of the Democrats’ fight against Mr Trump.

He predicted the impeachment motion will be rejected by the US Senate.

Mr Putin said that “the party that lost the election is continuing the fight by other means”.

He likened the impeachment to the earlier US probe into Mr Trump’s collusion with Russia, which he downplayed as being groundless.

On Wednesday night, Mr Trump was impeached by the US House of Representatives, becoming only the third American chief executive to be formally charged under the Constitution’s ultimate remedy for high crimes and misdemeanours.

The historic vote split along party lines, much the way it has divided the nation, over the charges that the 45th president abused the power of his office by enlisting a foreign government to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election.

Having approved that abuse of power charge by a vote of 230 for to 197 against, the House then approved the second article of the impeachment resolution — that Mr Trump obstructed Congress in its investigation — by 229 votes to 198.

The articles of impeachment, the political equivalent of an indictment, now go to the Senate for trial, most likely in January.

Mr Trump is expected to be acquitted by the Republican-led chamber, but would still then have to run for re-election carrying the enduring mark of impeachment on his purposely disruptive presidency.

Democrats led Wednesday night’s voting, framed in what many said was their duty to protect the Constitution and uphold the nation’s system of checks and balances.

Republicans stood by their party’s leader, who has frequently tested the bounds of civic norms.

Mr Trump called the whole affair a “witch hunt,” a “hoax” and a “sham”.