A resolution to guide how the impeachment of the president of the United States of America Donald Trump will proceed has been passed in the Democrats-controlled House of Representatives.
It was not a vote on whether the embattled US president should be impeached but rather a vote on the protocols that will govern the impeachment affair.
232 members of the House voted in favour while 196 voted against.
Members voted, by and large, along party lines.
Only 2 Democrats, who represent districts in which President Donald Trump prevailed in the 2016 election, voted against the resolution.
The White House in a statement to newsrooms expressed condemnation of the vote.
The impeachment inquiry was touched off by revelations that President Trump, in a phone call, pushed the Ukrainian head of state to launch investigations into corruption claims against Democratic party front-runner Joe Biden.
Donald Trump has launched sustained attacks on the impeachment inquiry in a frantic bid to undermine and discredit the process.
Minority leader Republican Kevin McCarthy claimed that the Democrats were keen to impeach Donald Trump because they lacked the capacity to defeat him at the ballot.
“Democrats are trying to impeach the president because they are scared they cannot defeat him at the ballot box,” Kevin McCarthy said. “Why do you not trust the people?” He added.