Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani spotted at White House amid House Judiciary impeachment vote

John Fritze | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Presidential impeachment: Clinton, Johnson, Nixon test U.S. democracy Presidents have been impeached, but none have been removed from office due to impeachment. Confusing? Here's how.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was seen entering the White House Friday, just as the House Judiciary Committee was taking a historic series of votes to approve articles of impeachment against the president.

Giuliani, a central figure in the events driving the Democratic impeachment push, has said he wants to brief U.S. officials on the findings of his recent trip to Ukraine. It was not immediately clear if Giuliani was meeting with Trump.

The former New York City mayor and an ardent Trump supporter has been involved in pushing an unfounded theory that Ukraine was involved in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrat Hillary Clinton. That theory partly explains why Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into Kyiv's interactions in the election.

More: Five presidential conspiracy theories debunked

The House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against Trump minutes earlier. The first alleges the president abused his power in his interactions with Ukraine and the other accuses him of obstruction of Congress during the impeachment inquiry because he blocked members of his administration from testifying and blocked executive agencies and departments from providing documents to Congress.

More: Trump's stonewalling becomes basis for impeachment

The articles now go to the full House of Representatives, where Democrats are expected to approve them as soon as next week. If the articles are adopted, the Senate could hold a trial in January to decide whether to remove him from office.

Giuliani's dealings with two of his clients, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, have drawn the scrutiny of federal investigators. USA TODAY reported in October that federal counterintelligence investigators have been looking into the former New York City mayor's business with the two men since at least early 2019.

Contributing: David Jackson