House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD-05), and Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC-06), passed a resolution Thursday morning that formalizes the procedure for going forward with an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
House Resolution 660 passed along sharp party lines 232-196. Just two Democrats voting against the measure. All of the House Republicans voted “no.”
The outlier votes came from swing district Representatives Collin Peterson (D-MN-07) and Van Drew (D-NJ-02), who voted against the resolution. Meanwhile, Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI-03) voted ‘yes.’
President Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign manager Brad Parscale said of the vote:
Every American can see this for what it is: an attempt to remove a duly-elected president for strictly political reasons by a strictly partisan, illegitimate process. Today’s vote merely proves that the entire impeachment process was a sham from the beginning and Nancy Pelosi can’t legitimize it after the fact. We can all read the transcript of the Ukraine phone call for ourselves and see that there was no quid pro quo and no basis at all for overturning the legitimate results of the 2016 election. Voters will punish Democrats who support this farce and President Trump will be easily re-elected.
Republican Chairwoman Rhonna McDowell added:
Since they lost in 2016, Democrats have had one goal and one goal only: impeaching President Trump by any means possible. All this sham resolution does is coronate Adam Schiff as King of the Democrats’ latest witch hunt, and today’s partisan vote proves it is only motivated by politics. The American people want a Congress that works for them — not one whose sole focus is smearing their duly-elected President.
After the vote Speaker Pelosi held a press conference.
“It is a sad day because nobody comes to Congress to impeach a president of the United States,” the Speaker of the House said. “We take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and that is something we can not ignore and will not ignore when the President’s behavior indicates that an inquiry is necessary. As the inquiry proceeds, we will decide whether we will go forward with impeachment.”
