Updated Friday, Dec. 13, 2019; 11 AM ET:
The House Judiciary Committee on Friday morning approved both articles of impeachment – which include abuse of power and obstruction of Congress – against Donald Trump, splitting, as expected, along party lines in the historic vote.
As reported earlier, this now means that the articles will now be put before the full House to vote on, which many expect to come before Congress goes on recess for the holidays.
As Time notes, following the announcement, House Republicans tweeted out, blasting the impeachment process as “partisan” and “unfair” and “a sham.”
Trump, who is known for his Twitter fingers and had been tweeting most of the morning has not yet responded, to the news, although he lamented ahead of the vote earlier this morning, “How do you get impeached when you have done NOTHING wrong?”
“Crazy,” the president added as he listed off the things that he claims he has done, including rebuilding the Military, cutting taxes and regulations, created jobs “and soooo much more.”
Earlier:
At around 11 p.m. Thursday night, after a long 14-hour debate about the articles of impeachment lobbed against President Donald Trump, House Democrats announced that the panel would no longer vote that night, but wait until 10: a.m. Friday morning.
According to NBC News, the news of the unexpected overnight-recess, announced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), angered Republicans, some of whom accused Democrats of trying to gain more media attention by postponing the vote until Friday morning
“That was the most bush league play I have ever seen in my life,” Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., said, according to the report, blasting Nadler for turning the committee into a “kangaroo court.”
“They want the primetime hit,” Collins added.
“I think we all thought it was going finish up tonight,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told Fox News.
Just before signalling recess, Nadler noted that he wanted “both aisles to think about what has happened over the last two days and to search their consciences before they cast their final votes,” NBC reported.
If the committee approves the articles of impeachment on Friday, the vote will then be put before the full House, which is expected to vote on the matter before the holiday break. If the articles pass the full House, Trump will then face a trial in the Senate in January, although the likelihood of that happening is slim to none.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has already signalled that there is “no chance” that the president would be convicted.
“The case is so darn weak coming from the House. We know how it’s going to end,” McConnell told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “There’s no chance the president’s going to be removed from office. My hope is that there won’t be a single Republican who votes for either of these articles of impeachment…it wouldn’t surprise me if we got one or two Democrats.