The House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump Wednesday night, Dec. 18, making Trump the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.
The House impeached Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice. No Republicans voted in favor of either charge, according to Axios. All but two Democrats voted in favor of at least one of the charges.
The 85-day House impeachment inquiry looked into claims that Trump withheld aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden, a rival for the 2020 presidency.
The only other two presidents in U.S. history to be impeached were Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Both were acquitted by the Senate, and it appears likely the case will be the same with Trump.
The American people’s opinions regarding the historic vote were mixed. Protesters filled the streets Wednesday in support of impeaching Trump.
But others were not as thrilled with the outcome.
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, and Rev. Johnnie Moore, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, released the following statement:
“On Wednesday evening Dec. 18, 2019, the United States House of Representatives embarked upon the only exclusively partisan impeachment effort in American history, and millions of Americans recognize that the House leadership is not actually impeaching the president of the United States but the policies and people that he represents.
“The Democrats in the House impeached millions of God-fearing, family-loving and patriotic Americans from the Democrat and Republican parties.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who believe in one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all, including the president of the United States.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who believe in due process, the rule of law and in the primacy of our free elections in determining our political leadership.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who believe that it’s precisely the job of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the United States government to intensely obstruct one another in order to check and balance our freewheeling democracy whose brilliance is unparalleled in history.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who are profoundly proud of American power, accountability and generosity.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who believe that every life is sacred in and out of the womb.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who recognize that this nation is a nation of immigrants, support comprehensive immigration reform and demand that those who enter, do so legally.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who believe that our religious freedoms were inserted into the first clause of the first sentence of our First Amendment for a reason.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who recognize that socialism has been one of history’s most anti-freedom and most anti-Christian ideologies.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who believe that we have the God-given right to raise our children according to our own beliefs without government interference.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who repudiate every vestige of hatred, bigotry, discrimination and racism yet celebrate ideological intersectionality present in the tapestry of America’s myriad ethnic and religious communities.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who believe in faith and science and oppose theocracy while cherishing freedom of conscience and belief.
“They impeached millions of Americans – Democrat and Republican – who believe that Uncle Sam is just an uncle but he will never be our Father.
“On Dec. 18, 2019 the Democrats in Congress chose political expediency over our election integrity, and we shall see in 2020 whether or not the party increasingly led by Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be rewarded or rejected by millions of Americans, Democrat and Republican.
“God bless our country as we endure this political drama on the eve of the most sacred occasion of our envied democracy, the year of the Presidential election.
“Our relentless prayers especially rest with the president of the United States and upon all of those who led us into this utterly partisan disregard of the most powerful tool our Founders gave us to undo a presidential election – which is exactly what this is an attempt to do.”