Here's when the House of Representatives' impeachment vote is expected to happen

Pamela Engel

December 18, 2019 11:28 PM

The House of Representatives on Wednesday kicked off a historic hearing that is expected to culminate in the impeachment of President Donald Trump .

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Guatemala's President Jimmy Morales in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., December 17, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Trump is on course to become the third president in US history to be impeached.
The hearing began at 9 a.m. ET and has featured several hours of debate as Democrats make the case for impeachment and Republicans defend Trump.
The votes on the articles of impeachment are expected to occur sometime around 7:30 p.m.
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The House of Representatives on Wednesday kicked off a historic hearing that is on course to end in the impeachment of President Donald Trump .

The Democratic-controlled chamber has enough votes to impeach Trump and is expected to do so in the evening. The hearing began with a procedural vote on the terms of debate that the House Rules Committee fleshed out on Tuesday.

The final vote on impeachment was initially set to take place from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET, but is now expected to take place closer to 7:30 p.m.

The House Judiciary Committee on Friday drafted and then approved two articles of impeachment abuse of power and obstruction of Congress to be sent to the full House, which can pass them with a simple majority.

In the articles of impeachment, Democrats charge that Trump abused his office to benefit his reelection prospects. In July, days after withholding a nearly $400 million military-aid package to Ukraine, he used a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian oil-and-gas company .

The House has 430 voting members, meaning 216 votes are needed to pass an article of impeachment. The body is made up of 232 Democrats, 196 voting Republicans, and one independent, meaning both articles most likely have more than enough votes to pass.

Sonam Sheth and Grace Panetta contributed to this report.

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