WASHINGTON, D.C.—“I want to begin my remarks with some of the most beautiful words in our country’s history,” began Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States.”

On a day when a series of speeches followed familiar partisan scripts (“sham impeachment” versus “I want you to do us a favour, though,”) and when speakers brought props such as a photo of President Donald Trump’s face and the Kremlin captioned with an accusation of “Soviet-style impeachment hearings,” Pelosi was obviously trying to strike a more historic note. Shortly afterwards, the House would vote, for only the fourth time in its history, to formalize impeachment procedures against a president. Pelosi’s own prop was a simple American flag on an easel beside her.

She talked about the articles of the constitution laying out the division between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government (“the genius of the constitution”), invoked Benjamin Franklin’s famous words that the U.S. had “a republic, if you can keep it,” and said that was the purpose of the motion. “What is at stake in all of this is nothing less than our democracy.”

Her Republican counterpart, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, predictably had a different perspective, calling the process “not only an attempt to undo the last election, it’s an attempt to influence the next one as well.”

The partisan divide in the House and the country was reflected not only in the rhetoric, but also in the vote, which approved the motion to pursue the process 232 to 196. It was very close to a party-line vote, with just two Democrats voting against — Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, each of whom represents Republican-leaning districts — and one independent voting in favour (Justin Amash of Michigan, who left the Republican Party earlier this year to support the impeachment proceedings).

Trump, who had no events listed on his public schedule, appeared to be watching the proceedings from the White House, issuing tweets during the debate about the “Impeachment Hoax” and one immediately after the vote, labelling it “The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!”

Minutes after the vote, the White House issued a statement, which began, “The President has done nothing wrong, and the Democrats know it. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ unhinged obsession with this illegitimate impeachment proceeding does not hurt President Trump; it hurts the American people.”

The vote formalizes procedures for the next stage of the impeachment process, which provide Republican members of Congress and the president’s lawyers a chance to participate in the inquiry by suggesting and cross-examining witnesses. During the debate, Republicans characterized the due process procedures as inadequate and subject to veto by the Democratic committee chair leading the process, while Democrats noted they provided more rights to the president and opposition than had the two previous impeachment proceedings in living memory, against Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon.

This vote likely ends a stage of the process that has been characterized by leaks to the media of confidential depositions, and should soon move testimony onto the public stage. Televised hearings will take in a format similar to courtroom proceedings, with witnesses called, examined and cross-examined.

At the end of those hearings, members of the House of Representatives will vote on whether to impeach the president, essentially deciding whether they think his actions merit sending him to a trial in the Senate. If that happens, a two-thirds majority vote would be required at the end of a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate to remove Trump from office.

No U.S. president has ever been removed from office through the impeachment process. Richard Nixon might have been, but he resigned as the House prepared to vote on his impeachment. Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson were impeached by the House but not convicted by the Senate.

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The evidence the House’s Democratic majority will seek to uncover and examine during its inquiry is whether Trump improperly pressured Ukraine and its president to open investigations that would help him in his upcoming election campaign.

It’s already been alleged by some witnesses, whose confidential testimony has been publicly reported, that the president and those working on his behalf made a coveted visit to the White House by the Ukrainian president — and possibly hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid — conditional on opening investigations into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son.

Trump has consistently said there was no “quid pro quo,” and that he did nothing wrong.

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