The House vote follows a contentious House Judiciary Committee vote in which two articles of impeachment were recommended for the full House to consider. The two articles of impeachment that were approved accuse Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress during the investigation of the abuse of power.
The abuse of power charge claims Trump withheld a White House meeting and $391 million in military aid until Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky announced investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. In addition, the articles of impeachment claim, Trump wanted Ukrainian officials to acknowledge that Ukraine had meddled in the 2016 election. U.S. intelligence sources say it was Russia, not Ukraine, that meddled in the election.
If that vote takes place and passes the House, Trump will become only the third U.S. president to be impeached by the full House. Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were the two others.
Trump will be the first president to be impeached in his first term if the House passes the impeachment resolution. No U.S. president has ever been removed from office through impeachment.
Here is what we know about the House schedule for this week.
Monday: While no vote concerning impeachment is set for Monday, the Judiciary Committee released a 658-page report that outlines the process it used to bring and approve the articles of impeachment against Trump. According to the report, Trump is "engaged in a pattern of misconduct that will continue if left unchecked" unless he is impeached prior to the 2020 presidential election. "We cannot rely on the next election as a remedy for presidential misconduct when the President is seeking to threaten the very integrity of that election. We must act immediately," it said. "His actions warrant his impeachment and trial, his removal from office, and his disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States." You can read the full report here.
Tuesday: The House Rules Committee will meet Tuesday. The purpose of that committee meeting is to set the parameters for the debate and to consider any proposed amendments to the Judiciary Committee's impeachment resolution. Any lawmaker who wishes to can attend the meeting to speak on the impeachment resolution. The committee, like every other committee in the House, has a majority of Democratic members – nine Democrats to four Republicans. If no amendments are approved, the resolution will move as is to the full House for a debate under the rules the committee adopts. One issue that may be raised in the Rules Committee was the denial by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-New York, to allow Republicans to call witnesses during the committee's deliberations.
Wednesday: If the resolution is debated and passed out of the House Rules Committee, a vote on impeachment could take place Wednesday or Thursday, according to Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, the chairman of the House Rules Committee. House Democratic leaders have scheduled a vote for Wednesday, McGovern said. That debate is likely to take most of the day and a vote could spill over into Thursday if the debate continues late into the evening.
What happens next: If the House approves articles of impeachment, then they are transmitted to the U.S. Senate, where they will be taken up in January, after Christmas break.
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