US lawmakers reject Democrat's resolution to impeach Donald Trump

The United States House of Representatives have voted to stop a democrat's effort to impeach President Donald Trump. Congressman Al Green, a Democrat of Texas, who has repeatedly called for the president's removal, introduced two articles of impeachment against Trump on Wednesday.

Green had used a so-called privileged motion to force a vote on the issue. A total of 58 Democrats voted to move forward on articles of impeachment representing nearly one-third of the caucus. Another four voted "present", a vote indicating neither for nor against, reported the Hill.

The vote was 364-58 and was not directly on the resolution, rather a vote to table the proposal. Green called Trump "unfit" for office and accused him of "high misdemeanors," in a speech on the floor ahead of the vote.

"I love my country. For this reason I will bring articles of impeachment to a vote in the House of Representatives," Green wrote in a letter to colleagues. Green's articles of impeachment did not allege Trump has specifically committed a crime. Instead, Green argued that Trump has "brought disrepute, contempt, ridicule and disgrace on the presidency" and "sown discord among the people of the United States."

The articles of impeachment cited Trump's equivocating response to the violent clash between white supremacists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville, retweets of anti-Muslim videos posted by a far right British group; criticisms of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality among others to back Green's assertion.

Green first unveiled a draft of his articles of impeachment in October, but refrained from triggering a vote at the time to allow the public to review them.

-ANI