众议院司法委员会(House Judiciary Committee)周五按照党派路线投票，将针对唐纳德特朗普总统的两项弹劾条款提前至众议院全体议员，此前周四晚些时候，投票突然推迟，结束了一天马拉松式的辩论和政治讽刺。
这两篇指控特朗普滥用权力和阻挠国会的文章以23票对17票获得通过，标志着美国历史上第四次该委员会批准弹劾在任总统的文章。
“今天是庄严而悲伤的一天，”司法机构主席杰罗德·纳德勒(纽约民主党)在投票后告诉记者。"众议院将迅速采取行动。"
这些文章现在将在众议院全体会议上进行最终投票，预计将在下周某个时候进行，同时还有通过一项被称为美国国会议员法案(USMCA)的大规模国际贸易协议的最低投票和支出法案，以避免政府关门在即。
在大约两周的圣诞假期后，这些文章将于明年1月在参议院接受审判，预计参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(米奇·麦康奈尔)将采取必要措施，确保诉讼仅持续几周。
在纳德勒于周四晚上11:15左右意外休会后，委员会通过这些文章的时间比原定计划晚了一天——在文章开始后14个多小时——直到周五上午10点，这让立法者、助手和记者感到惊讶，也激怒了共和党人。
推迟的决定是多方面的，要归咎于共和党人提出了五项失败的修正案，这些修正案会使文章无效该委员会的一名民主党助手说，这只会延长不可避免的时间新闻周刊。这名助手说，通过推迟投票，民主党阻止了共和党人声称他们试图在深夜弹劾总统的能力，并认为出于“透明的原因”，议员们在“白天”投票是恰当的
共和党人将这种突然的延迟归咎于纯粹的政治花招，指责他们跨通道的同事试图为他们的投票争取更多的电视报道。
“他们知道这都是游戏。他们知道这一切都是关于这些电视屏幕，”排名成员道格·柯林斯(右加。)告诉记者。"他们想要黄金时段的热门节目。"
2019年12月12日，星期四，在华盛顿特区的朗沃斯众议院大厦，众议院司法委员会对唐纳德·特朗普总统的弹劾条款进行标记时，可以看到众议院议员、媒体和其他人。弹劾条款指控特朗普滥用权力和阻挠国会。众议院民主党人声称，特朗普在过去一年与乌克兰的交往中，对国家安全和2020年的选举构成了“明显而现实的威胁”。(马特·麦克莱恩-普尔/盖蒂图片社照片)马特·麦克莱恩-普尔/盖蒂的照片
民主党人能够获得委员会中摇摆不定的地区民主党人的支持一小群犹豫不决的政治弱势成员。
来自乔治亚州的温和派议员露西·麦克巴斯(Lucy McBath)去年以微弱优势推翻了特朗普选区，她与民主党同事一起投票，进一步减少了她所在政党中尚未声明是否支持弹劾条款的反对者人数。麦克巴斯在将近一个月前投票发起弹劾调查，但他仍犹豫是否公开支持这些文章，直到周三晚上，委员会成员在审议开始前发表了开场白。
“我对我们所学到的东西感到非常难过，我不得不面对一个严肃的结论:我相信总统滥用了他的职权，把他自己的利益置于我们国家的需要之上，置于我所爱和我所服务的人民的需要之上，”麦克巴斯周三说。“为此，我必须投我的意识，我这样做是带着沉重的心情和悲伤的灵魂。这不是我来华盛顿的原因。”
在周四为期一天的辩论中，麦克巴斯拒绝在讲台上的座位上发表任何公开言论。
12月11日，在华盛顿特区国会山，众议员露西·麦克巴斯(民主党众议员)在众议院司法委员会对弹劾唐纳德·特朗普总统的条款进行标记时发表讲话何塞·路易斯·马加纳-普尔/盖蒂的照片
共和党人试图在整个辩论过程中通过五项修正案，试图删除这两篇文章，并插入“布里斯马”和“亨特·拜登”等词，但没有成功。
盖兹因酒后驾车被捕，后来被撤销，他大谈亨特·拜登过去的药物滥用问题，并立即遭到众议员汉克·约翰逊(民主党众议员)的反驳，此后出现了一个紧张的时刻。)。
约翰逊说:“把水壶说成黑色不是我们应该做的事情。”。“我不知道哪些成员——如果有的话——在滥用药物方面有任何问题，因为酒后驾车而被逮捕，我不知道。但如果我这样做了，我不会向委员会中的任何人提起这件事。我认为这不合适。”
众议员黛比·莱斯科(共和党)说，共和党人再次指责民主党人试图“弹劾当选后的总统”。
众议员道格·柯林斯(共和党众议员)说:“令人惊讶的是，这个委员会现在是这样一个时钟和日历程序，以至于[民主党人]不在乎。”。)，该小组的最高共和党人。“事实该死。他们不在乎。”
两名成员——众议员佐伊·洛格伦(加州民主党)和吉姆·森伯伦纳(共和党)根据他们在弹劾比尔·克林顿总统期间在司法委员会任职的经历，对特朗普的弹劾提出了截然不同的支持和反对意见。
“不知何故，对性事件撒谎是对总统权力的滥用，但滥用总统权力以获取某种利益并不重要。如果是关于性的谎言，我们可以把斯托米·丹尼尔斯的案子摆在我们面前，”洛格伦说，他指的是特朗普在2016年选举前通过他的前律师迈克尔·科恩支付的成年电影女演员，以保持对婚外情的沉默。
“重要的是比尔·克林顿对大陪审团撒谎，”森伯伦纳回应道。“那是犯罪。这不是这里正在发生的事情——很大的不同。”
这些文章预计将在少数民主党叛逃者的支持下在众议院获得通过。至少有两名温和派议员——杰夫·范·德鲁(新泽西州)和科林·彼得森(明尼苏达州)将投票反对弹劾。
众议院议长南希·佩洛西(加州民主党)周四在每周新闻发布会上说:“这是一场人们必须得出自己结论的投票。”。她重申，领导层不会抽打选票来争取尚未表明投票计划的弱势成员的支持。
“事实很清楚——事实上无可辩驳。事实是，我们宣誓保护和捍卫美国宪法，”佩洛西补充说。“我们要捍卫宪法，宪法中有一个共和国。正如本杰明·富兰克林所说，“一个共和国，如果你能保留它。”我们认为这是我们的责任:维护共和国。"
IMPEACHMENT ARTICLES AGAINST TRUMP ADVANCE AFTER DRAMATIC DELAY—HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The House Judiciary Committee on Friday voted along party lines to advance two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the full House after an abrupt postponing of the vote late Thursday night that ended a marathon day of debating and exchanging political barbs.
Both articles, charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, passed 23-17, marking the fourth time in United States history that the panel has approved impeachment articles against a sitting president.
"Today is a solemn and sad day," Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) told reporters following the vote. "The House will act expeditiously."
The articles will now head to the full House for a final vote, which is expected to occur sometime next week, along with floor votes to pass a massive international trade deal known as the USMCA and spending bills in order to avert a looming government shutdown.
The articles will then head to trial in the Senate in January following a roughly 2-week Christmas recess, where it's expected that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will take the necessary steps to ensure the proceedings only last a few weeks.
The passage of the articles by the committee came a day later than originally planned after Nadler unexpectedly adjourned for recess at about 11:15 p.m. Thursday—more than 14 hours after they began—until 10 a.m. Friday, surprising lawmakers, aides and reporters, and infuriating Republicans.
The decision to delay was multi-pronged to put the blame on Republicans for offering five failed amendments that would have rendered the articles ineffective, which only prolonged the inevitable, a Democratic aide for the committee told Newsweek. By delaying the vote, Democrats prevented the ability for Republicans to claim they were trying to impeach the president in the dead of night, the aide said, and argued it was pertinent for members to cast their votes in the "light of day" for "transparency reasons."
Republicans chalked up the sudden delay to pure political gamesmanship, accusing their colleagues across the aisle of attempting to secure more TV coverage for their vote.
"They know it's all about games. They know it's all about these TV screens," ranking member Doug Collins (R-Ga.) told reporters Thursday night. "They want the primetime hit."
House members, media and others are seen during a House Judiciary Committee markup of Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump at the Longworth House Office Building on Thursday, December 12, 2019 in Washington, D.C. The articles of impeachment charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. House Democrats claim that Trump posed a 'clear and present danger' to national security and the 2020 election in his dealings with Ukraine over the past year. (Photo by Matt McClain -Pool/Getty Images)
Democrats were able to secure the support of a swing district Democrat on the committee, who was among a small group of undecided and politically vulnerable members.
Rep. Lucy McBath, a moderate lawmaker from Georgia who narrowly flipped a Trump district last year, voted with her Democratic colleagues, further dwindling the number of holdouts within her party who have yet to state whether they back the articles of impeachment. McBath, who voted to launch the impeachment inquiry nearly a month ago, remained hesitant to publicly support the articles until Wednesday evening when the committee's members gave opening remarks before deliberations began.
"I am greatly saddened by what we have learned and I am forced to face a solemn conclusion: I believe the president abused the power of his office, putting his own interest above the needs of our nation, above the needs of the people that I love and I serve," McBath said Wednesday. "And for that, I must vote my conscious, and I do so with a heavy heart and a grieving soul. This is not why I came to Washington."
During Thursday's daylong debate, McBath declined to issue any public remarks from her seat on the dais.
Rep. Lucy McBath, (D-GA) speaks during a House Judiciary Committee markup of the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill December 11 in Washington, D.C.
Republicans—to no avail—attempted to pass five amendments throughout debate that sought to kill both articles and insert the words "Burisma" and "Hunter Biden," among other things.
A tense moment came after Gaetz, who's had a DUI arrest that was later dropped, spoke extensively about Hunter Biden's past substance abuse issues and was immediately rebutted by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.).
"The pot calling the kettle black is not something that we should do," Johnson said. "I don't know what members—if any—have had any problems with substance abuse, been busted for DUI, I don't know. But if I did, I wouldn't raise it against anyone on this committee. I don't think it's proper."
Republicans rehashed the accusation that Democrats have sought to "impeach this president since he got elected," as Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) said.
"This committee is amazingly now such a clock and calendar process that [Democrats] don't care," said Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), the panel's top Republican. "Facts be damned. They don't care."
Two members—Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)—made vastly different arguments for and against Trump's impeachment based on their past experiences serving on the Judiciary Committee during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
"Somehow, lying about a sexual affair is an abuse of presidential power but the misuse of presidential power to get a benefit somehow doesn't matter. If it's lying about sex, we could put Stormy Daniels' case before us," Lofgren said, referencing the adult film actress who Trump paid through his former attorney Michael Cohen before the 2016 election to keep quiet about an alleged extramarital affair.
"The important thing is Bill Clinton lied to a grand jury," Sensenbrenner responded. "That is a crime. That is not what is happening here—big difference."
The articles are expected to pass the full House with a handful of Democratic defectors. At least two moderate members—Reps. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) and Collin Peterson (D-MN)—will vote with Republicans against impeachment.
"This is a vote that people will have to come to their own conclusion on," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday during her weekly press conference. She reiterated that leadership will not be whipping the vote to try and corral support from vulnerable members who've yet to state how they plan to vote.
"The facts are clear—irrefutable, in fact. The fact is that we take an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States," Pelosi added. "We want to defend that constitution, which has a republic in it. As Benjamin Franklin said, 'a republic, if you can keep it.' We see that as our responsibility: keep the republic."
