House votes to formalize impeachment inquiry

By Meg Wagner, Veronica Rocha, Mike Hayes and Rob Picheta, CNN

Updated 9:51 p.m. ET, October 31, 2019
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11:57 a.m. ET, October 31, 2019

Ivanka Trump weighs in on impeachment vote

Ivanka Trump, a senior adviser to the President and his daughter, just tweeted a quote from former President Thomas Jefferson after the House voted to formalize the impeachment inquiry into her father.

She quoted a letter from Jefferson to his own daughter, Martha:

11:45 a.m. ET, October 31, 2019

Trump campaign: "Voters will punish Democrats who support this farce"

President Trump's campaign called the just-passed House impeachment inquiry resolution "an attempt to remove a duly-elected president for strictly political reasons."

"Today’s vote merely proves that the entire impeachment process was a sham from the beginning," Trump's 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said in a statement.

He added: "Voters will punish Democrats who support this farce."

Here's the full campaign statement:

“Every American can see this for what it is: an attempt to remove a duly-elected president for strictly political reasons by a strictly partisan, illegitimate process. Today’s vote merely proves that the entire impeachment process was a sham from the beginning and Nancy Pelosi can’t legitimize it after the fact. We can all read the transcript of the Ukraine phone call for ourselves and see that there was no quid pro quo and no basis at all for overturning the legitimate results of the 2016 election. Voters will punish Democrats who support this farce and President Trump will be easily re-elected.”
11:36 a.m. ET, October 31, 2019

Here's what the President tweeted moments after the House resolution passed

From CNN's Allie Malloy

Moments after the House passed the resolution formalizing the impeachment investigation, President Trump tweeted: “The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!”

Trump has tweeted numerous times this morning on the impeachment inquiry leading up to the vote.

11:36 a.m. ET, October 31, 2019

Speakers of House traditionally don't vote. But Nancy Pelosi did today.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi voted yes on today's resolution formalizing the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, CNN's Dana Bash reported.

As Bash explained, House Speakers usually don't vote — and Pelosi was making a point with her ballot today.

Here's how Bash put it:

"I was told she actually voted yes. And it is the tradition of the speakers of the House to actually not vote. They usually don't vote on legislation or on resolutions unless they want to make a point. She wanted to make a point — both symbolically by sitting in the chair and with her vote — that she is all in on this and that is a big shift. 

 In addition to her vote, Pelosi presided over the House today. She usually does not.

11:35 a.m. ET, October 31, 2019

No Republicans voted in favor of impeachment inquiry resolution

The House just passed a resolution formalizing the Trump impeachment inquiry.

No Republicans broke with their party and voted with Democrats to pass the resolution.

Here's the official vote count:

11:39 a.m. ET, October 31, 2019

What a Republican senator said about the House impeachment inquiry resolution

From CNN's Ted Barrett

John Thune, a Republican senator from South Dakota, spoke to reporters about the House resolution that just passed.

When asked if the vote formalizes the impeachment process, he said: “I don’t think they [House Democrats] are interpreting it that way. Seems like they’re trying to give some of their members who don’t want to vote for an actual inquiry a way out too. So, we’ll see."

To me, this thing is sort of vaguely written and vaguely interpreted even by Democrats in the House. I’m not sure all what it means at this point.”
11:31 a.m. ET, October 31, 2019

JUST IN: House passes resolution formalizing the impeachment inquiry

The House just passed a resolution that formalizes the procedures of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

It passed with a vote of 232-196.

Remember: This was not a vote to impeach President Trump — rather, it was a vote to formalize the impeachment proceedings. You can read the full resolution here.

What happens now: The impeachment inquiry will continue, under the protocols described in the resolution. 

The working theory among Democrats is there will be another week or two of closed depositions — and that public hearings before the House Intelligence Committee could begin as soon as the second week in November.

11:25 a.m. ET, October 31, 2019

These two Democrats voted against procedural resolution ahead of impeachment inquiry vote

From CNN's Manu Raju

Only two House Democrats voted nay in the procedural vote ahead of the vote on the impeachment resolution.

Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson from Minnesota and Rep. Jeff Van Drew from New Jersey voted against moving forward.

11:22 a.m. ET, October 31, 2019

The House is now voting on the Trump impeachment inquiry resolution

The House is now voting to formalize the procedures of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

This is the vote that will decide if Congress moves forward with the inquiry.