After many hours of deliberation, the United States’ House of Representatives have voted to impeach the 45th President, Donald Trump, on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Democrats in the House pushed for impeachment after a whistleblower revealed Trump had pressured Ukraine by withholding aid in order to get them to investigate his political rivals. He tried to obstruct the investigation by attempting to stop senior officials from testifying against him in front of the House.

Trump immediately denied the whistleblower’s claims, calling them “fraudulent” and “total fiction”.

However, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, announced on December 5 the House Judiciary Committee would investigate these claims.

“The president leaves us no choice but to act because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit,” said Pelosi.

On December 12 after much time spent debating, the House Judiciary Committee approved the two articles of impeachment in a 23-17 vote, which led Trump to become the fourth U.S. president to face impeachment.

These articles of impeachment next arrived in front of the House, leaving them to decide whether to impeach Trump or not.

There were 17 testimonies included in the investigation, describing how Trump pressured Ukraine into investigations that would benefit him politically.

The House had a 230-197 vote to impeach Trump for abuse of power, and a 229-198 vote to charge him with obstruction of Congress.

Although the president has been formally charged with these crimes, he will remain in office unless the Senate votes to remove. As the Senate is controlled by a Republican majority, it is seen as highly unlikely that they will vote to remove Trump from office.

Trump has now been the third president in US history that was impeached, along with former presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.