The US House of Representatives has voted to condemn Donald Trump for his “racist” Twitter attack on four Democratic congresswomen.
After a rancorous debate, members of the Democrat-controlled chamber voted by 240 to 187 to denounce Mr Trump for making “racist comments that have legitimised fear and hatred of new Americans and people of colour”.
It was the first House rebuke of a president in more than 100 years.
Before the vote, House speaker Nancy Pelosi implored Republicans to censure the President’s incendiary language about the so-called “squad” that consists of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib.
She said: “To do anything less would be a shocking rejection of our values and a shameful abdication of our oath of office to protect the American people.”
“The world is watching,” said civil rights pioneer and congressman John Lewis. “I know racism when I see it. I know racism when I feel it. And at the highest level of government there is no room for racism.”
Republicans claimed Mrs Pelosi had broken House rules of decorum by branding the President a racist and only four, including the party’s only African-American congressman, crossed the aisle to vote for the resolution.
That was seized on by Mr Trump, who today tweeted: “So great to see how unified the Republican Party was on today’s vote concerning statements I made about four Democrat Congresswomen.
“If you really want to see statements, look at the horrible things they said about our Country, Israel, and much more. They are now the top, most visible members of the House Democrats, who are now wedded to this bitterness and hate. The Republican vote was 187-4. Wow!”
Mr Trump has insisted he was not being racist when he suggested the four “progressive” women politicians should “go back” to their own countries. Three were in fact born in the US. He also claimed the vote against him was a “Democrat con game”.
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As soon as the vote was passed, Democratic congressman Al Green triggered an attempt to impeach the president, by introducing articles that could force the House to debate the issue. Mrs Pelosi and Democratic leaders have so far resisted trying to impeach Mr Trump, fearing it could backfire without enough support in both the House and the Republican-led Senate.
Any debate on Mr Green’s resolution, charging the President with bringing the White House into “contempt, ridicule, disgrace and disrepute”, is likely to be delayed until next week at least, when Robert Mueller is due in front of Congress to discuss the findings of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
