Trump has denied wrongdoing.

Earlier, the committee approved a separate article of impeachment accusing Trump of abusing his power by trying to get Ukraine to investigate Biden, a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to run against Trump next year.

Each vote went 23-17, entirely along partisan lines. A 24th Democratic congress member, Ted Lieu, is absent after undergoing heart-related surgery earlier this week.

The committee had been expected to approve two articles of impeachment late on Thursday, but after a marathon session committee chair Jerrold Nadler sent lawmakers home for the night and said members would return to vote Friday.

Members will now have two days to submit their views on the articles.

In raucous hearings that began Wednesday night, Republicans have defended Trump and accused Democrats of a politically motivated farce, while Democrats have accused the president of endangering the U.S. Constitution, jeopardizing national security and undermining the integrity of the 2020 election by pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July phone call to investigate Biden.

The abuse of power charge also accuses Trump of freezing nearly $400 million in U.S. security aid to Ukraine and offering a possible White House meeting to Zelensky to get him to publicly announce the investigations of Biden and his son Hunter, who was on the board of a Ukrainian gas company for over two years while his father was U.S. vice-president and deeply involved in Ukraine policy.

Trump also asked Ukraine to investigate a debunked theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

The obstruction charge accuses the president of impeding the House’s efforts to investigate the scandal by instructing current and former members of his administration not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry.

Trump and Republicans say the president did nothing improper in his call with Zelensky, and that there is no direct evidence he withheld aid or a White House meeting in exchange for a favour.

If the full House impeaches Trump, as early as next week, he would then go on trial in the Senate in 2020. The Republican-led chamber is unlikely to vote to find the president guilty and remove him from office.

The articles of impeachment

Article 1

In the impeachment context, abuse of power is generally defined as using the vast powers of the presidency for personal benefit.

Abuse of power is not specifically listed as an impeachable offence in the U.S. Constitution, which states that a president can be removed from office for «treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours.»

But the founders of the United States intended the phrase «other high crimes and misdemeanours» to broadly encompass abuses of power, legal scholars said.

Article 2

Democrats levelled the obstruction charge based on Trump’s stonewalling of the House’s impeachment inquiry.

The White House has refused to provide documents to congressional investigators and has instructed top advisers and government officials to defy subpoenas and refuse to testify.

Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanour crime under U.S. law, which defines the offence as wilfully failing to provide testimony or documents to Congress.

The White House has argued that the Constitution does not require senior presidential advisers to appear for compelled testimony before Congress. A judge rejected that argument on Nov. 25 in a dispute over a subpoena issued to former White House counsel Don McGahn.

What to expect

Week of Dec. 15

All 431 members of the House will have the opportunity to vote on the articles. If the full House voted to approve the articles, Trump would become only the third president in U.S. history to be impeached. He would remain in office, however, pending a trial in the Senate.

If the impeachment is approved, the House would select lawmakers known as managers to present the case against Trump at a Senate trial. House Democrats say most of the managers are likely to come from the judiciary committee, and possibly from the intelligence committee that led the investigation.

Early January

Trump would face a trial in the Senate to determine whether he should be convicted and ousted from office. A two-thirds majority of those present in the 100-member chamber would be needed to convict Trump.

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts would preside over the trial. House managers would present their case against Trump, and the president’s legal team would respond. A trial could involve testimony from witnesses and a gruelling schedule in which proceedings occur six days a week for as many as six weeks.

Senators hear the evidence, but are not to interrupt the proceedings. In the last impeachment trial involving a president, they deliberated in private before voting.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday a majority of the Senate could approve a shorter process by voting on the articles of impeachment after opening arguments, without witnesses. On Thursday, McConnell told Fox News there was «zero chance» Trump would be removed from office through a Senate trial.

The history

This is the fourth time in history Congress has moved to impeach a president.

Bill Clinton was the last president impeached by the House, in 1998. As with President Andrew Johnson in the 19th century, Clinton was acquitted in the Senate. Richard Nixon resigned from office in 1974 after articles of impeachment were approved but before a Senate trial could take place.