Pelosi's power move, impeachment Santa and other scenes from a historic day

Speaker Nancy Pelosi had just banged the gavel down Wednesday night, cementing President Donald Trump’s place in history as the third president to be impeached, when a smattering of Democrats started applauding.

Pelosi, who in the days before had privately warned her members not to celebrate in response to Trump’s impeachment — no applause, no cheers — immediately shot her caucus a stern look, gesturing one hand upwards in disapproval while continuing to bang the gavel with the other. Democrats immediately fell silent.

Republicans, who noticed the exchange, sniggered and then delivered their own response: “Four more years! Four more years!”

The raucous moment on the floor capped off nearly 12 hours of partisan finger-pointing and lively debate, as lawmakers shuffled in and out of the chamber all day to make their case why Trump should or shouldn’t be removed from office.

Just before 9 p.m., Pelosi dropped the gavel for a final time as the House approved two articles of impeachment against Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. A lone Democrat let out a solo “yay” before quickly being shushed by his colleagues.

Pelosi, who wore a black dress and a large golden brooch in the shape of the speaker’s mace to reflect what she called the “somberness” and “seriousness” of the moment, had been on the floor nearly all day, watching the debate from both sides. But the last hour of the long day was the most rowdy.

Republicans let out audible jeers as Democratic leaders offered their final remarks.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) delivered Democrats’ closing argument, speaking at the podium in front of a packed chamber without notes. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) closed things out for Republicans, warning that impeachment would be the “worst mistake” that Democrats make.

Then, as the first vote kicked off just before 8:10 p.m., Republicans flooded the well of the chamber, holding up red paper cards to signal a “no” vote on Article 1, abuse of power. The move was unusual — House members typically vote electronically — and created chaos in the chamber with lawmakers pushing toward the desk to have their vote recorded.

Pelosi even took part, taking time to scribble her vote on a green paper card before turning it into the House clerks.

In the final minutes, presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) ducked in to cast her vote — present — before immediately bolting through one of the GOP doors. Lawmakers of both parties defied House rules to snap iPhone photos of their voting cards and the electronic board inside the chamber. Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas, a fierce Trump defender, even scribbled in “hell no” on his voting card and posted a picture of it to Twitter.

And Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) was seen watching snippets of Trump’s rally, back in her home state, on her iPad.

It was a far cry from the early hours of debate, when lawmakers sat by themselves to watch the sometimes mundane proceedings or go over their speeches a final time.

Before the House convened for the day, freshman Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.) sat in the back of the chamber, alone. Rose, who had long resisted impeachment and even posted an op-ed arguing firmly against it days before the Ukraine scandal broke, looked around the largely empty chamber and let out a sigh.

Outside of the Capitol, where it registered a sunny but cool 39 degrees, a quirky mix of characters roamed about the plaza throughout the day — from a Santa hauling around a poster-sized “naughty list” with Trump at the top to protesters already assembled, vigorously arguing for and against impeachment.

Shortly after 9 a.m., House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) — a top Trump ally — stood up to force a procedural vote, kicking off a series of process gambits from the GOP.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, the Democratic freshman from New Jersey who shook the Capitol over the weekend by deciding to switch parties in protest of the impeachment effort, was seen chatting and shaking hands with his soon-to-be colleagues. He even stood with Republicans when they cheered for the president. Many Democrats flat-out ignored him.

Also making a return to the Capitol was Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who was sidelined from the final impeachment hearing in the House Rules Committee on Tuesday — remaining in New York for an extra day to be with his ill wife.

Two women, draped in red cloaks and headdresses, sat sentry in the gallery above the chamber for some of the day, at times holding their hands in prayer. And filmmaker Michael Moore was spotted in the gallery above the House floor for the final votes, shouting down friendly remarks to Democrats as they filled out of the chamber afterwards.

Lawmakers mostly repeated talking points on the House floor as they argued for or against impeachment. Some of the speeches, though, jolted energy into the chamber, including a two-minute address by civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).

"We have a mission, and a mandate, to be on the right side of history," roared the Georgia congressman, who was beaten and jailed for his advocacy during the Civil Rights movement.

And several hours into the debate, one House Republican held a moment of silence for an unexpected source — the results of the 2016 election.

"I want to use my time to call on this chamber for members to rise and observe a moment of silent reflection," Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Tenn.) said, referring to "the voices of the 63 million American voters" who backed Trump. Roughly two dozen Republicans in the chamber uniformly stood up behind him, while Democrats remained in their seats.

In recent days, Pelosi and other top Democrats had repeatedly instructed their members to be cognizant of the “tone” of the moment throughout the historic day.

On the floor, some moderate Democrats were quietly reminding their more left-leaning colleagues to observe leadership's warnings — fearful of the political consequences of any footage from celebrations.

Some Democrats were also quietly talking about which of them would get name-dropped at Trump's rally in Michigan. Ultimately, Trump ended up mocking Dingell and her late husband, John Dingell, the former dean of the House who died in February.

“We’re all very serious about it. The gravity of this historic day is hard to overstate,” Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) said after taking a procedural vote to advance articles to the floor.

Earlier in the day, before the first vote, Hoyer had the same message for Democratic committee chairs in his regular weekly meeting: "Don't spike the football," Hoyer said, according to multiple people in the room.

Even some senators wanted to be part of the impeachment action.

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who served in the House during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, chatted with Republicans before huddling with several Democrats including Hoyer and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.). Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) huddled with Republicans closer to the vote itself.

Some senators, however, got a preview of the impeachment fight sent directly to their offices. A White House staffer was delivering Christmas cards and copies of Trump's scathing anti-impeachment letter to Pelosi, according to Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

But before members took to their respective corners for the 12-hour day of partisan debate ahead, they shared a brief moment of levity.

When lawmakers began taking their first procedural vote of the day, Biggs noticed that Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), one of Trump’s fiercest defenders, was wearing a blue tie. Meanwhile, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), one of the earliest Democrats to call for the president’s impeachment, was donning a red one.

“You’re wearing each other’s jerseys!” Biggs exclaimed to the pair of men, adding that they should switch ties. Green and Meadows jokingly bumped each other’s shoulders before settling back to their respective camps for a long day of partisan clashes.

John Bresnahan and Andrew Desiderio contributed to this report.