WASHINGTON (Nexstar) – It was a historic day in Washington. The House of Representatives filed articles of impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of justice against President Donald Trump.
“The House Judiciary Committee is introducing two articles of impeachment,” House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said Tuesday morning.
It’s something Republicans in Congress said they knew was coming.
“I’m surprised it took them this long. I mean they planned on doing this all along,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said.
Sen. Scott said he believes Democrats have been planning this since President Trump was elected and blames the effort for holding up legislation.
As the process inches closer to the Senate, both Scott and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis (R) said they are preparing for more work to be put off.
“It just seems to be more of the same at the expense of working on a number of things that the people of North Carolina are more interested in,” Tillis said.
The House Judiciary Committee still has to finalize the articles of impeachment and send them to a full house vote. If they pass, the Senate will hold a trial.
Washington Correspondent Kellie Meyer asked Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) if he hopes it goes to the Senate.
“I’m not going to hope for that. I didn’t hope that this process would start,” Sen. Jones said.
Jones represents a state that President Trump won in 2016. While he says he’s troubled by the president’s actions, he needs to see what is presented in the Senate trial before he makes his mind up.
The president himself stayed off-camera Tuesday but the White House said Democrats don’t have a case.
“We expected it but I think that they know that they don’t have anything,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said.
House Democrats hope to have a vote on impeachment before the holiday recess, which is a little more than a week away. The Judiciary Committee is set to begin its mark up of the articles of impeachment Wednesday night.
