The United States House of Representatives on Thursday voted to formalise the impeachment proceedings conducted against President Donald Trump.
On the House floor, 232 lawmakers voted in favour while 196 of them voted against the resolution.
However, two Democrats – representing districts that President Trump won handily in 2016 – voted against the resolution.
Read Also: US Congress Unveils Resolution For Next Steps In Trump Impeachment Inquiry
The vote was the first formal test of support for impeachment in the Democratic-controlled House after the Republicans decried that the proceedings were conducted behind closed doors.
The resolution detail how the inquiry will move into a more public phase and also sets out the rights that President Trump’s lawyers would have during the proceedings.
President Trump condemned the resolution of the House immediately after the vote, describing the inquiry as the “Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!”
In a more detailed response, the White House Press Secretary, Stephanie Grisham, issued a statement condemning the resolution and accusing members of the Democratic Party of having an “unhinged obsession with this illegitimate impeachment”.
“Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats have done nothing more than enshrine unacceptable violations of due process into House rules.
“Democrats are choosing every day to waste time on a sham impeachment — a blatantly partisan attempt to destroy the President,” the statement partly read.
The eight-page resolution document published on Tuesday sets out a two-stage process for the next phase of the inquiry.
In the first phase, the House Intelligence Committee will continue its investigations and hold public hearings. It will have the right to make public transcripts of depositions taken in private.
The second phase will see a public report on the findings sent to the House Judiciary Committee, which will conduct its own proceedings and report on “such resolutions, articles of impeachment, or other recommendations as it deems proper”.
Read Also: US House Launches Impeachment Proceedings Against Trump
The impeachment inquiry was launched against President Trump by the Democrat-led US House of Representatives after reports emerged that a US intelligence official had complained to a government watchdog about President Trump’s interactions with a foreign leader, who was later revealed to be the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, stated that the US President’s action constituted a “breach of his constitutional responsibility”, adding that he undermined the country’s national security and elections’ impartiality.
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