The House Judiciary Committee on Friday approved two articles of impeachment against President Trump, casting the predictable party-line vote that Democrats abruptly delayed the previous night.
The charges — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — both passed 23-17 along party lines. They now go to the full House for a historic impeachment vote expected next week.
The article of impeachment for abuse of power stems from allegations that Mr. Trump leveraged a White House meeting and nearly $400 million in military aid to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate political rival Joseph R. Biden and his son Hunter, as well as Ukraine meddling in the 2016 election.
The second article, obstruction of Congress, is rooted in the administration’s refusal to cooperate with Democrats’ subpoenas of witnesses and documents in the impeachment inquiry.
The committee’s vote Friday came after lawmakers spent more than 15 hours debating the merits of impeachment, with neither side budging or crafting innovative arguments for their case.
In a brief statement to reporters, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold L. Nadler announced the charges against the president of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
“The House will act expeditiously,” said Mr. Nadler, New York Democrat.
Rep. Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican on the committee, said Mr. Trump had cooperated fully with Congress and was justified in refusing to participate in the impeachment hearings.
“This whole thing was rigged,” he told reporters. “I’m an attorney. Many of us are. If we were advising our client — and our client, in this case, happened to be Donald Trump — we would tell him not to participate in that because it is an ambush.”
During a marathon 15-hour markup of the article of impeachment Thursday, the committee’s Democrats rejected all six Republican-proposed changes to the articles, which included attempts to strike both articles of impeachment. The Republicans noted that Ukraine ultimately received U.S. military aid temporarily withheld the Trump administration and pointed out potential causes to investigate Hunter Biden.
The approved articles now will be recommended to the House for a full floor vote next week, possibly Wednesday.
“This desperate charade of an impeachment inquiry in the House Judiciary Committee has reached its shameful end,” said White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham. “The president looks forward to receiving in the Senate the fair treatment and due process which continues to be disgracefully denied to him by the House.”
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale slammed the vote as “just another act in the Democrats’ political theater.”
“The baseless, sham impeachment is just out-of-control partisan politics and the American people are rejecting it,” he said.
• S.A. Miller and Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this story.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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