Multiple Democrats voted against Democrats’ first article of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Wednesday, while no Republicans defected and supported the Democrats’ partisan effort.
On the first article of impeachment, “abuse of power,” Democrats voted 228–2, Republicans voted 0–195, and the one independent member of Congress voted for impeachment.
The final vote on the first article of impeachment was 230–197–1.
The vote on the second article of impeachment, “obstruction of Congress,” concluded with even more Democrats defecting from their party and voting against impeachment.
The final vote on the second article of impeachment is Democrats voted 228–3, Republicans voted 0–195, and the one independent member of Congress voted for impeachment.
The final vote on the second article of impeachment was 229–198–1.
ABC reports: bipartisan vote was against impeachmenthttps://t.co/mueiS6u1Xu pic.twitter.com/nYJhzLjvlP
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 19, 2019
Current Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii did not vote for either of the Democrats’ partisan articles of impeachment and instead voted present.
Gabbard said, “I could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting President must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country.”
Dem HI Rep Gabbard on her “present” vote on impeachment: I could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting President must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 19, 2019
Trump now becomes the third president in U.S. history to be impeached and becomes the only president to ever be impeached in a purely partisan effort while there was a bipartisan effort in opposition to impeachment.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) responded to the partisan impeachment by writing on Twitter, “Today will be remembered as the day your House Democrat majority voted to impeach President @realDonaldTrump for a crime they couldn’t find and a case they couldn’t prove. You won’t forget. And neither will we.”
Today will be remembered as the day your House Democrat majority voted to impeach President @realDonaldTrump for a crime they couldn’t find and a case they couldn’t prove.
You won’t forget. And neither will we.
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) December 19, 2019
Daily Wire Editor-at-Large Josh Hammer, a constitutional attorney by training and a former Fifth Circuit law clerk, responded to Democrats’ partisan impeachment by writing on Twitter, “They are realizing all of Alexander Hamilton’s worst fears that he expressed in The Federalist No. 65. He presciently warned against this precise scenario.”
Hamilton wrote:
A well-constituted court for the trial of impeachments is an object not more to be desired than difficult to be obtained in a government wholly elective. The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated POLITICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself. The prosecution of them, for this reason, will seldom fail to agitate the passions of the whole community, and to divide it into parties more or less friendly or inimical to the accused. In many cases it will connect itself with the pre-existing factions, and will enlist all their animosities, partialities, influence, and interest on one side or on the other; and in such cases there will always be the greatest danger that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties, than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.
Trump was at a campaign rally when the impeachment vote occurred and he responded to it by saying, “I don’t know about you, but I’m having a great time.”
Trump says it doesn’t feel like he’s being impeached.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m having a great time”
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) December 19, 2019
White House social media director Dan Scavino noted additional remarks from Trump: “With today’s illegal, unconstitutional and partisan impeachment, House Democrats are declaring their deep hatred and disdain for American Voters. This lawless and partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat Party!”
🚨MOMENTS AGO🚨
“With today’s illegal, unconstitutional and partisan impeachment, House Democrats are declaring their deep hatred and disdain for American Voters. This lawless and partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat Party!”
President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/Z78vcBEQ7n— Dan Scavino (@DanScavino) December 19, 2019
Related: WATCH: Pelosi Forced To Stop Democrats From Cheering Impeachment Vote, Taking Selfies