US House votes to set aside impeachment resolution against Trump

US House votes to set aside impeachment resolution against Trump
July 18, 2019, 8:49 am

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts at a campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina. (Reuters)

The US House of Representatives voted Wednesday to sideline an impeachment resolution against President Donald Trump, effectively killing the measure for now but not burying the issue that has divided Democrats.

The resolution’s sponsor, Democratic Representative Al Green, was seeking to capitalize on growing criticism of Trump after the president’s recent attacks on minority congresswomen.

The House voted 332 to 95 to set aside the measure.

“Impeachment of your President...., is now OVER. This should never be allowed to happen to another President of the United States again!,” Trump tweeted.

Green had failed twice before to get an impeachment resolution passed, but Wednesday marked the first time the full House had addressed the matter since Democrats took the majority earlier this year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has long tried to restrain Democrats from initiating the impeachment process against Trump, pending a House Judiciary Committee probe into whether he colluded with Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and obstructed Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the matter.

However, Wednesday’s vote put lawmakers on the record on the impeachment question. A clear majority of the House’s 235 Democrats - 137 - voted along with Republicans to table Green’s impeachment resolution. But 95 Democrats opposed setting the measure aside. One Democrat voted present.

While a growing minority of Democrats in the House have called for launching an impeachment inquiry, Democratic leaders made clear earlier Wednesday they did not support Green’s effort, at least not now.

“As I have said over and over again, with all the respect in the world for Mr. Green..., we have six committees that are working on following the facts in terms of any abuse of power, obstruction of justice and the rest that the president may have engaged in. That is the serious path that we are on,” Pelosi told reporters.