Trump impeachment articles approved by House Judiciary Committee

The Congressional Judiciary Committee has approved impeachment charges against President Donald Trump, with lawmakers largely sticking with their parties. The process could now advance to a full House vote as early as next week.

After debating articles of impeachment in a heated session on Thursday, the committee voted 23 to 17 to approve both articles as House Resolution 755 on Friday, charging the president with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The full House will debate the articles further on Wednesday, with a vote expected to split along party lines and make Trump the third-ever president to be impeached before Congress adjourns for the holidays. If the House votes to impeach, the Senate will take up the case in the new year.

A Republican amendment brought by Ohio Representative Jim Jordan to strike down the “abuse of power” charge was rejected by the judiciary committee earlier on Thursday after hours of debate, while Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, tried and failed to insert a reference to former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, into the articles. Two additional GOP amendments were also shot down by the committee, one modifying the language of the articles, the other eliminating the “obstruction of Congress” charge entirely.

Over the course of the debate, Republicans argued it was the Democrats, not the president, who obstructed justice by refusing the GOP minority its own set of hearings in which it could call its own witnesses. Democrats say they invited President Trump to the hearing, where he could present his case, but the offer was turned down by the White House.

The Democrat-controlled House launched the impeachment inquiry in late September after a White House whistleblower came forward with allegations of corruption stemming from a July phone call between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. The whistleblower complaint – quickly seized upon by Democrats – charged that Trump tried to exploit US military aid in order to coerce Zelensky to open an investigation into Biden and the Ukrainian gas firm that hired his son.