Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives announced two articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday, Dec. 10, charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, making this the third impeachment attempt of a U.S. president.

Minutes before the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, announced the renegotiated United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) plan, she also introduced the two impeachment articles. At the same time an economic victory was earned for the president and American workers, the Democrats took steps to impeach the president.

In a nine-page resolution, the two articles accuse President Trump of “unprecedented misconduct” and call for his removal from the White House, according to CNN.

Both of the articles were formally introduced by House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler. “Today, in service to our duty to the Constitution and to our country, the House Committee on the Judiciary is introducing two articles of impeachment, charging the president of the United States Donald J. Trump with committing high crimes and misdemeanors,” Nadler explained.

The Democratic leaders accuse President Trump of abusing his political power in office by pressuring Ukraine to provide intel of political rivals in the upcoming 2020 election, while also withholding a White House meeting and $400 million in aid for Kiev, Ukraine’s capital.

The articles of impeachment were unveiled after an anonymous whistleblower sparked a two-month investigation into President Trump’s communications with the Ukrainian government. The whistleblower complained that President Trump “solicited election help from Ukraine on a July 25 phone call”, as reported by CNN.

The introduction of the articles will pave the way for an upcoming impeachment vote on the House floor in the upcoming weeks if the House Judiciary Committee approves the articles after debating. This process will take place on Dec. 12; if the articles pass this stage, there will be a vote.

The debate about such claims from the Democrats have elevated the rivalry between Republicans and Democrats. “The announcement of two baseless articles of impeachment does not hurt the President, it hurts the American people, who expect their elected officials to work on their behalf to strengthen our nation,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham explained to CNN. “The President will address these false charges in the Senate and expects to be fully exonerated, because he did nothing wrong.” 

However, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff reported to CNN, “The argument why don’t you wait amounts to this: why don’t you just let him cheat one more election? Despite everything we have uncovered, the president’s misconduct continues to this day, unapologetically and right now.”

The upcoming impeachment vote is expected to be divided largely along party lines. It is speculated there may be a few Democratic defections, but as it currently stands, Republicans will not be likely to vote to impeach President Trump, who have maintained the investigation is unfair and biased against the president.

Photo courtesy of CNN.COM