By David Kamioner | October 31, 2019
The House of Representatives on Thursday morning passed the impeachment process resolution against President Donald Trump, 232-196
It’s a procedural vote on process.
The resolution will spell out the format for the process ahead.
“It’s very dramatic,” declared Chris Wallace on the Fox News Channel on Thursday morning.
“It’s a moment in history,” he declared — rather melodramatically at that.
Tempers had flared all morning on the House floor as lawmakers prepared to cast their votes to formalize the impeachment inquiry.
While not a vote on impeachment itself, this vote makes an eventual House vote on the impeachment issue itself all but certain.
“The president has done nothing wrong and the Democrats know it,” said Stephanie Grisham, White House press secretary, in a statement right after the vote passage was announced.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), in a statement, said that the actions on Thursday morning are “nothing more than a charade … a shunt.”
Trump, by the way, is holding a 2020 campaign rally on Friday night this week — and he undoubtedly will address the House’s actions during that event.
Republicans are holding fast to the notion that the whole process is a kangaroo court.
Rep. Ross Spano (R-Fla.) told the assembled House, “A yes vote on this resolution today gives a stamp of approval to a process that has been damaged beyond all repair and a blatant and obvious coup to unseat a sitting president of the United States.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) [1] said it was fitting the vote was happening on Halloween — and urged his colleagues to rise above the partisan divide and reject the measure.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) even called supporters of impeachment part of a “cult.”
Democrats countered that they were holding the president accountable to the law.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the sponsor of the resolution, said, “I do not take any pleasure in the need for this resolution. We are here because the facts compel us to be here…It’s about transparency and it’s about due process for the president. Some on the other side will never be satisfied with any process.”
The vote had been expected to go generally along party lines, with Justin Amash (I-Mich.) voting with the Democrats and Rep. Van Drew (D-N.J.) with the GOP.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), ahead of time, said she would vote “if the spirit moves me.”
House Resolution 660 is about bringing the question itself to a vote in front of the full House — and should be a reliable indicator on the eventual vote totals.
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This piece originally appeared in LifeZette [2] and is used by permission.