232 members of the House of Representatives supported the proposal, including ten Republicans. 197 members voted against.
It is still far from clear whether Trump will actually be impeached. According to the procedure, two thirds of the Senate must also agree to the impeachment. And in the Senate, Trump’s Republican Party still holds the majority right now. “Historically”, says correspondent Erik Mouthaan about the course of events:
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The House of Representatives decision to ‘impeach’ Trump is historic. It is therefore the first time that a president has to deal with such an impeachment procedure twice. The first (unsuccessful) impeachment was due to abuse of power and the obstruction of the investigation.
Then Trump was accused of pressuring the Ukrainian president to damage his political opponent Joe Biden. On February 5 last year, the Senate rejected that charge.
Dead and wounded
The Democrats now want to get Trump out of the White House early because of last week’s riots in and around the Capitol. Trump supporters then besieged Congressional premises, raided the building and wreaked havoc. Five people were killed and dozens injured. View the images of the storm below.
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Threatening democracy
The impeachment charge against Trump refers to, among other things, Trump’s false claims about election fraud and the speech he gave to his supporters prior to the storming of the Capitol.
“Through all of this, President Trump seriously endangered the security of the United States and its government agencies,” the charges said. “He threatened the integrity of the Democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transfer of power and endangered an equal government body.”
25th amendment
The Democrats also tried to remove Trump yesterday. They tried to do that by asking Vice President Mike Pence to make use of the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution.
Under that arrangement, Trump, whose term ends next Wednesday, could be expelled from the White House relatively quickly. Pence refused to do so.
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