Historic Vote

   Donald Trump is now officially the fourth president in American history to face a formal impeachment vote in the House of Representatives.
   The House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment, and the issue will now go to the full House for final action. If approved, it will go to the Senate for trial, and if convicted there he will be removed from office.
   Whether that happens, of course, remains to be seen. Of the four presidents who have faced impeachment charges, two -- Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton -- were not convicted by the Senate, and a third -- Richard Nixon -- resigned after the Judiciary Committee approved impeachment but before the issue could be taken up by the full House. Therefore, it cannot be said that Nixon was impeached.
   It's not likely that Trump will follow Nixon's example and resign, and for now it's not likely that the Senate will convict Trump, forcing him out of office.
   The two articles of impeachment that would indict Trump are about abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. There were other issues that the House committee considered, but the panel chose these two as the most likely to be approved. Others, however, still dominate the news cycle will no doubt continue to be debated as the controversy continues.
   Meanwhile, the Russian foreign minister is set to meet the president and the secretary of state, the Justice Department said the FBI's probe of the 2016 presidential campaign and possible Russian interference was flawed, and Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph Giuliani is in Ukraine for more talks with political leadership there.
   Hmmm. What does it all mean?