House Judiciary Approves Articles of Impeachment, GOP Slams ‘Kangaroo Court’

The House Judiciary Committee is in favor of adopting two articles of impeachment against President Trump – “capping a contentious three-day session that Republicans panned as a ‘kangaroo court’ and teeing up a historic floor vote right before the holiday break,” as reported by Fox News.

The two articles alleging abuse of power and obstruction of Congress were adopted by the committee with a 23-17 vote. The final roll call in the full House next week “could trigger a Senate trial in the new year just as presidential primaries are set to get underway.”

“For the third time in a little over a century and a half, the House Judiciary Committee has voted articles of impeachment against the president – for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The House will act expeditiously,” said Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. Meanwhile, the White House dismissed the inquiry as a “charade.”

Republicans were furious over Nadler’s decision on Thursday night to wrap up the hearing and postpone votes until the morning. Fox News added that this “led to Republicans decrying what they called a ‘bush-league stunt’ by Nadler to make sure the vote would be carried on daytime television.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapa, on the other hand, defended the decision by saying it would be “disrespectful” to vote so late at night. “We Democrats felt it was really important to take this vote to impeach the president of the United States in the daylight so everybody could see what was happening,” she said.

However, the proceedings were done quickly on Friday and took less than 15 minutes to vote on the articles of impeachment.

The committee’s vote sets up the third presidential impeachment in US history, according to Politico.