WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats clashed fiercely on Wednesday as the House of Representatives barreled toward a historic vote to impeach President Trump, debating a pair of charges that would make him the third president in history to face removal by the Senate for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The epic debate on the House floor reflected the deep polarization gripping American politics in the Trump era, but the outcome was considered certain. Majority Democrats were expected to push through two impeachment articles, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, over the vehement protests of Republicans. The charges stemmed from Mr. Trump’s attempts to use the powers of the United States government to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.
A vote on Wednesday morning to lay the ground rules for the proceeding signaled that the final outcome — like the debate itself — would fall almost purely along partisan lines, with nearly every Democrat in favor of impeaching Mr. Trump. The test vote was 228 to 197, with just two Democrats voting with Republicans in opposition. It began six hours of passionate back and forth between Democrats and Republicans, as they warred over whether to charge the president with offenses that could lead to his ouster less than a year before he faces re-election.
Immediately after the test vote, the clerk of the House read the two articles in full aloud to a rapt House chamber, concluding by reciting: “President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, dressed in all black and wearing a golden brooch that was a tiny replica of the Mace of the Republic — a ceremonial staff that represents the power of the House of Representatives — began consideration of the charges by appealing to every member to uphold their oaths to “protect and defend” the Constitution.
“Today, as speaker of the House, I solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the president of the United States,” she said. “If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty. It is tragic that the president’s reckless actions make impeachment necessary. He gave us no choice.”
Republicans accused the Democrats, who fought their way back from political oblivion in 2016 to win control of the House last year, of abusing the power voters had invested in them by manufacturing a case against a president they never viewed as legitimate. Though they conceded few of them, they insisted the facts against Mr. Trump nonetheless fell woefully short of impeachment.
“This is an impeachment based on presumption,” said Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. “We win on process and we win on the facts. Why? Because the American people will see through this.”
Far from showing contrition or contemplating resignation in the face of a certain impeachment, as his predecessors have done, Mr. Trump instead offered an indignant defense from the White House, delivered over social media, his favored means of communication.
“SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS,” the president wrote on Twitter as lawmakers argued over his fate. “THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!”
The night before, he had unloaded on Democrats in an irate and rambling letter to Ms. Pelosi, accusing them of conducting an “illegal, partisan attempted coup.” It was the written equivalent of one of his raucous, arena-style campaign rallies, and on Wednesday around the same time as the House was scheduled to vote, Mr. Trump was expected to take the stage for just such an event in Battle Creek, Mich.
In the House chamber, Democrats rose, one by one, to argue forcefully for the president’s impeachment, asserting that Mr. Trump’s actions had put at risk the integrity of the 2020 election and the country itself.
Drawing on testimony and documentary evidence gathered during a two-month inquiry by the House Intelligence Committee, Democrats accused Mr. Trump of misusing the power of his office when he pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and other Democrats, while holding back nearly $400 million in military assistance the country badly needed and a White House meeting for its president.
When lawmakers found out about the scheme and sought to investigate, the president ordered his administration to defy every request from Congress, leading to what Democrats charged was a violation of the separation of powers and a de facto assertion by Mr. Trump that he was above the law.
Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York and the Judiciary Committee chairman, said the president’s actions toward Ukraine ominously echoed his embrace of Russian election assistance in 2016 and subsequent efforts to thwart federal investigators scrutinizing it.
“We cannot rely on the next election as a remedy for presidential misconduct when the president threatens the very integrity of that election,” Mr. Nadler said. “He has shown us he will continue to put his selfish interests above the good of the country. We must act without delay.”
Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina and the party’s longtime third-ranking leader, implored his colleagues to hold Mr. Trump accountable by casting votes for impeachment, saying, “Today we have a president who seems to believe he is a king or above the law.”
Democrats defeated a pair of Republican attempts to derail the impeachment debate before it got underway, dispatching with them in strictly party-line votes. Just two minutes after the House gaveled into session, Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona, the leader of the conservative Freedom Caucus, moved to adjourn, forcing an early-morning roll call vote. Republicans immediately followed with a resolution asserting that the Democrats who led the impeachment inquiry “willfully and intentionally” violated House rules.
Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat of Colorado, who was tapped by the speaker to oversee the proceedings from the House rostrum, briskly dispensed with other Republican parliamentary maneuvers to keep things marching forward.
But the Republican objections went well beyond the process and to the substance of the impeachment charges. Despite the extensive evidence uncovered by the House Intelligence Committee about Mr. Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine, his allies in the Capitol insisted he had done nothing wrong.
“There is no proof — none! — that the president has committed an impeachable offense,” said Representative Debbie Lesko, Republican of Arizona.
In the Senate, where Mr. Trump could soon be on trial, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said on Wednesday morning that Democrats were poised to “misuse the solemn process of impeachment to blow off partisan steam.” He has already signaled that he views their case as “weak” and predicted a speedy acquittal in the new year.