The impeachment process began in the [[House of Representatives]] in September 2019 following a whistleblower complaint. The complaint centered around a phone call that President Trump had with the newly elected President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, on July 25, 2019. ## Ukraine extortion operation During the call, President Trump allegedly asked Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, who was then a potential opponent in the [2020 presidential election](https://doctorparadox.net/category/politics/2020-election/), and his son, Hunter Biden, over their activities in Ukraine. At the time, Joe Biden's son, Hunter, was serving on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. This led to allegations that Trump was soliciting foreign interference in the U.S. election. Furthermore, there were accusations that President Trump had withheld military aid to Ukraine as a form of quid pro quo, essentially trying to use the aid as leverage to pressure Ukraine into conducting these investigations. After hearings and investigations, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump on two articles of impeachment on December 18, 2019. The two articles were: 1. **Abuse of Power**: The House asserted that Trump solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He allegedly did this by corruptly soliciting Volodymyr Zelensky to publicly announce investigations into Joe Biden and a discredited theory promoting Russian [propaganda](https://doctorparadox.net/dictionaries/authoritarianism/propaganda/) that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the [2016 presidential election](https://doctorparadox.net/category/politics/2016-election/). 2. **Obstruction of Congress**: The House claimed that Trump directed the unprecedented, categorical, and indiscriminate defiance of subpoenas issued by the [[House of Representatives]] and thus obstructed Congress. ## Partisan results After the House voted to impeach, the process moved to the [[Senate]] for a trial. However, on February 5, 2020, the Senate acquitted Trump on both charges. The Senate vote was largely along party lines, with Mitt Romney of Utah being the only Republican senator to vote to convict Trump on the charge of abuse of power. It's important to note that impeachment and removal from office are two separate processes under the U.S. [[Constitution]]. Impeachment refers to the process by which the House of Representatives might level charges against a president. If the House votes to impeach, the president remains in office until the Senate holds a trial to consider removal.