{"slug":"trump-impeachment-first-ukraine-acquittal","title":"First Impeachment: Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress Over Ukraine","date":"2019-12-18","lastUpdated":"2020-02-05","description":"On December 18, 2019, the House of Representatives impeached Donald Trump on two articles: abuse of power (conditioning U.S. military aid and a White House meeting on Ukraine announcing investigations into Joe Biden and the 2016 election) and obstruction of Congress (directing all administration witnesses to defy congressional subpoenas). The Senate acquitted Trump on both counts on February 5, 2020. Mitt Romney was the only Republican senator to vote to convict on the abuse of power article — the first U.S. senator to vote to convict a president of his own party.","summary":"The first impeachment arose from a July 25, 2019 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky in which Trump asked Ukraine to 'do us a favor' by investigating the Bidens and the 2016 election, while $391 million in congressionally approved military aid was being withheld. Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified that there was an explicit quid pro quo and 'everyone was in the loop.' Ambassador William Taylor testified that U.S. officials were told the aid was conditioned on the announcement of investigations. The Senate acquitted on party-line votes except for Romney, who voted to convict on the abuse of power article. Trump fired Sondland and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (who had raised the alarm about the call) two days after the acquittal.","category":"rule-of-law","severity":"critical","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/us/politics/trump-impeached.html","title":"Trump Impeached for Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-acquitted-by-senate-in-impeachment-trial/2020/02/05/3a43b240-4862-11ea-ab15-b5df3261b710_story.html","title":"Trump acquitted by Senate in impeachment trial","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/trump-impeachment-acquittal-senate-ukraine","title":"Senate acquits Trump in impeachment trial","publisher":"The Associated Press"},{"url":"https://www.romney.senate.gov/romney-statement-impeachment-vote","title":"Romney Statement on Impeachment Vote","publisher":"U.S. Senate"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["impeachment","Ukraine","abuse-of-power","obstruction","first-term","Zelensky","Vindman"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2019-07-18","title":"Ukraine military aid hold begins","summary":"Office of Management and Budget instructs the Defense Department and State Department to hold $391 million in congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine. Congressional members are not notified."},{"date":"2019-07-25","title":"Trump-Zelensky call: 'do us a favor'","summary":"Trump asks Zelensky on a phone call to investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election. The rough transcript is released by the White House three months later. NSC official Alexander Vindman flags the call as 'wrong' internally."},{"date":"2019-09-09","title":"Whistleblower complaint filed","summary":"An intelligence community whistleblower files a formal complaint about the July 25 call and the surrounding pressure campaign. The complaint is initially withheld from Congress by the Director of National Intelligence."},{"date":"2019-12-18","title":"House impeaches on two articles","summary":"The House votes 229-198 to impeach on the abuse of power article and 228-198 on the obstruction article. It is entirely along party lines except for two Democrats who vote against."},{"date":"2020-02-05","title":"Senate acquits; Romney votes to convict","summary":"The Senate votes 52-48 to acquit on the abuse of power article (Romney voting to convict) and 53-47 to acquit on obstruction. Trump is acquitted."},{"date":"2020-02-07","title":"Vindman and Sondland fired in retaliation","summary":"Two days after acquittal, Trump fires Ambassador Sondland and Lt. Col. Vindman. Vindman's twin brother, who worked at the NSC but had no role in the impeachment, is also fired."}],"location":{"name":"Washington, D.C.","lat":38.9072,"lng":-77.0369},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"judicial-finding","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"U.S. constitutional norms of congressional oversight; Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Ambassador Gordon Sondland, fired in retaliation two days after the acquittal; Ukrainian government subjected to U.S. pressure campaign for political purposes","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President; conditioned foreign military aid on political favors; directed obstruction of congressional investigation","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Rudy Giuliani","role":"Trump's personal attorney; coordinated pressure campaign on Ukraine; met with Ukrainian officials to advance investigation demands","institution":"Trump personal legal team"},{"name":"Gordon Sondland","role":"U.S. Ambassador to EU; testified that there was a quid pro quo and 'everyone was in the loop'","institution":"U.S. State Department"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2020-02-07","summary":"Updated with Vindman and Sondland firings."}]}}