Democrats, GOP dig in for public phase of impeachment battle

Both Democrats and Republicans are digging in for what promises to be the biggest political battle in a generation.

Thursday's House vote on the impeachment probe resolution, which passed mostly along party lines, was the first of many public fights that are likely to extend in 2020.

The vote was also a clear indication that the next phase of the impeachment process - taking place in public hearings, before the television cameras - will be a highly partisan affair.

Over the past five weeks, the probe has primarily been shaped by closed-door testimony from several officials who have raised serious questions about whether President Trump and his inner circle withheld nearly $400 million in security aid for Ukraine in order to pressure Kiev to investigate Trump's political rivals.

"So far, we've seen damning evidence that the president abused his power and jeopardized our national security to help his own political fortunes," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), one of three Democrats leading the impeachment probe, said Thursday after the vote.

Trump "pressed for another round of foreign interference in an American election. It's what the framers feared the most," Engel added.

Only two Democrats - Reps. Jefferson Van Drew (N.J.) and Collin Peterson (Minn.) - voted against the resolution, a relatively small number of defections considering the nasty, intraparty battle that played out for most of the year over whether Democrats should go down the impeachment path so close to 2020.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) took a victory lap Thursday after he held his troops in line following days of speculation that some GOP lawmakers might break ranks.

In the end, not a single Republican sided with Democrats.

"Every Republican voted against the Soviet-style impeachment process ... You can see strong unity for the president and his policies," Scalise told reporters just off the House floor immediately after the vote.

Republicans have argued there was no clear evidence of Trump making U.S. security aid contingent on Ukraine opening investigations that would benefit him politically. They have also accused Democrats of selectively leaking witness testimony to fit their narrative.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "was very clear that there was no pressure plan in the phone call; there was no quid pro quo - that's the basis for their impeachment," Scalise told reporters.

After the vote, dozens of defiant Republicans piled into the Rayburn Room just off the House floor and sent a loud message to Trump and the public that they were unified in their opposition to the impeachment probe. Trump himself has consistently denied there was any quid pro quo.

"Folks, this ain't over. Get ready," warned Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. "The cloud that is dropping will be dropping on their heads, because process matters and substance will always win out in the end. And this president has nothing to worry about."

"History will hold them accountable, history will judge them," GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said of the Democrats.

Democratic leaders, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), had for months pushed back against liberals agitating for impeachment over allegations against Trump in the Mueller report, arguing that pursuing an inquiry without bipartisan support would be futile.

"If the evidence isn't sufficient to win bipartisan support for this, putting the country through a failed impeachment isn't a good idea," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told CNN in March.

But on Thursday, Schiff and other top Democrats expressed determination to press on with the inquiry.

"We take no joy in having to move down this road and proceed with the impeachment inquiry, but neither do we shrink from it," Schiff said.

Despite the two defections, the vast majority of even the most vulnerable Democrats backed the resolution. That included four lawmakers - Democratic Reps. Anthony Brindisi (N.Y.), Joe Cunningham (S.C.), Jared Golden (Maine) and Kendra Horn (Okla.) - who hadn't publicly backed the impeachment inquiry before Democratic leaders announced this week's vote.

Like Peterson and Van Drew, the other vulnerable Democrats represent districts that Trump carried in 2016.

The two Democrats who voted against the resolution expressed frustration that the impeachment process is sucking oxygen out of the room and preventing progress on any legislative work in the Capitol. They suggested impeachment would be a waste of time given that Senate Republicans are likely to acquit Trump in a trial.

Peterson blasted the impeachment process as "hopelessly partisan," adding it was a "mistake" to go forward without support from GOP senators.

"I have some serious concerns with the way the closed-door depositions were run, and am skeptical that we will have a process that is open, transparent and fair," Peterson said in a statement Thursday.

Republicans quickly seized on the "no" votes of the two Democrats, arguing the opposition to impeachment is now bipartisan. And both parties seemed to argue that public opinion will be on their side once the investigation shifts from closed doors to a public setting.

"We want the American people to be able to see all of this evidence that Chairman Schiff has decided upon himself to keep closed off in the basement with these super secret depositions," Republican Study Committee Chairman Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Thursday during an appearance on C-SPAN's "Newsmakers."

"Let's put the facts out there. That's our point," Johnson said. "We want the American people to be able to judge for themselves the merits of these claims and these allegations, and we, as duly elected representatives of the people, should certainly have a right to review that as well."