The Judiciary Committee of House of Representatives is expected to approve articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump today.
It had abruptly shut down a 14-hour session last evening following a marathon slog through Republican amendments aimed at killing the charges.
Approval of the two charges against the President would send the matter to the full house for a vote expected next week. But, the sudden turn punctuated the deep split in the Congress and the nation over impeaching the Republican President.
The committee, made up of some of the most strident lawmakers, clashed all day and into the night as Republicans insisted on the lengthy debate over amendments designed to kill the two formal charges against the President but with no hope of winning votes from the majority Democrats.
Trump is only the fourth US President to face impeachment proceedings and the first to be running for reelection at the same time.
The outcome of the eventual house votes poses potentially serious political consequences for both parties ahead of the 2020 elections, with Americans deeply divided over whether the president indeed conducted impeachable acts and if it should be up to Congress, or the voters, to decide whether he should remain in office.
Meanwhile, the President has insisted he did nothing wrong and blasted the Democrats’ effort as a sham and harmful to America.