The U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution to set “ground rules” for the impeachment inquiry into President Trump and his involvement in Ukraine’s investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, according to reports.
The House approved the resolution with a 232-196 vote. No Republicans voted in favor of the measure, and two Democrats voted against it. The House has a Democratic majority right now, with 234 Democrats and 197 Republicans.
This is the first official vote regarding the impeachment probe Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced last month.
According to Vox, the most significant aspect of this resolution is that it would extend the questioning time for Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff to 45 minutes as opposed to the normal five minutes. This would allow Schiff a longer period of time to ask probing questions during the hearings so as to build a “coherent narrative.” The change was approved provided that Republican Ranking Member Devin Nunes received the same amount of time on the floor.
The resolution regarding an impeachment inquiry comes on the heels of claims that Trump withheld military assistance from Ukraine in an attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden.
As of now, no Senate Republican has agreed that the charges against Trump are worthy of impeachment.
