House Judiciary Committee passes Articles of Impeachment
The House Judiciary Committee is expected to finally vote on the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on Friday.
(CBS) The House Judiciary Committee voted to approve the articles of impeachment against President Trump Friday morning, after more than 14 hours of heated debate on Thursday. Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler postponed the final votes on the articles late on Thursday evening, sparking immediate condemnation from Republicans on the committee.
After gaveling in on Friday morning, the committee immediately began voting on the first article, abuse of power. It passed along party lines, 23 to 17. The committee then moved to the second article, obstruction of justice, which also passed 23 to 17.
The articles will now move to the floor for a full House vote next week.
The committee passed the procedural amendment that precedes the final vote on the two articles shortly before midnight on Thursday by a voice vote.
Ranking Member Doug Collins called the postponement “inappropriate” on Thursday evening, and argued that Democrats only moved the vote to get greater media attention.
“The chairman’s integrity is gone,” a furious Collins told reporters after the meeting. “Words cannot describe how inappropriate this was.”
However, a senior House Judiciary staffer argued to CBS News that a Friday vote would be in the interest of greater transparency.
“Republican Judiciary members have complained about process and transparency, yet apparently wanted to force the Committee to vote on Articles of Impeachment in the dark of night. In the interests of doing our constitutional duty in a transparent way for the American public, the Chairman scheduled the vote of the Articles for 10 a.m. Friday morning,” the staffer said.
Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, also made that argument, tweeting on Friday morning that “the American people deserve an impeachment vote in the light of day.”
Republicans on the committee introduced several amendments on Thursday, all of which failed along party lines.
Mr. Trump praised Republicans’ performance on Thursday with several tweets on Friday morning.
“The Republicans House members were fantastic yesterday. It always helps to have a much better case, in fact the Dems have no case at all, but the unity & sheer brilliance of these Republican warriors, all of them, was a beautiful sight to see. Dems had no answers and wanted out!” Mr. Trump wrote in one tweet.
ORIGINAL STORY:
WASHINGTON (WFLA) – The House Judiciary Committee is expected to finally vote on the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on Friday.
A vote was widely expected to happen Thursday but in a shocking turn of events, Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) sent the committee to recess at 11:15 p.m. ET after 13 hours of deliberations. Republican members of the committee were visibly angry with the decision, calling it “unbelievable.”
Throughout the 13-hour session on Thursday, the committee voted on six amendments to the articles of impeachment against President Trump. Five were proposed by GOP members and were voted down by Democrats. The sixth was introduced by Rep. Nadler and was passed.
Rep. Nadler called for the committee to reconvene Friday at 10 a.m. ET. J.B. Biunno and Evan Donovan will bring you live coverage starting at 9:45 a.m. ET.
Get caught up with previous impeachment coverage:
- Marathon day of deliberations ends with shocking move to postpone impeachment vote
- Judiciary Committee begins deliberations on articles of impeachment
- Committee questions Republican, Democratic counsels as vote nears in impeachment inquiry
- Judiciary Committee grills 4 law scholars in impeachment inquiry
- Fiona Hill, David Holmes wrap testimony in public impeachment hearings
- Recap: Hale & Cooper testify after bombshell 7-hour testimony from Sondland
- Trump impeachment hearings & analysis: Williams, Vindman, Volker and Morrison testify
- Impeachment hearings Day 2: Testimony & analysis
- Breaking down first day of public impeachment hearings