WASHINGTON, January 16. /TASS/. Democrats of the House of Representatives of the US Congress handed over charges for the indictment process of US President Donald Trump to the Senate late on Wednesday.

The ceremony was broadcast by top US television channels.

Earlier in the day, the House voted to adopt a resolution on the issue.

Speaker of the US parliament’s lower chamber, Nancy Pelosi, signed the two charges of the indictment - abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. After that, seven impeachment managers, led by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, carried the document to the Senate, where it was received by majority leader Mitch McConnell.

Once the indictment, prepared as a result of the investigation in the Legal Committee and approved by the House of Representatives on December 18, is transferred to the Senate, the procedure turns into a trial. It will be led by the Chairman of the US Supreme Court. In this case the House of Representatives actually acts as a party to the prosecution, and senators play the role of a jury.

The impeachment procedure requires support from no less than two thirds of senators (at least 67 votes). The Republican party holds 53 seats in the Senate out of 100 and can easily block an attempt to oust Trump.

The current row in the United States flared up over Trump’s telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky. The Democratic Party-controlled House of Representatives launched an impeachment procedure against the US leader on September 4. The Democrats argue that Trump tried to persuade Zelensky to investigate the activities of former US Vice-President Joseph Biden and his son in Ukraine in exchange for financial and military assistance to Kiev.

Trump has become the fourth US head of state to face the impeachment procedure, after Andrew Johnson (1868), Richard Nixon (1974) and Bill Clinton (1998-1999). Johnson and Clinton were acquitted; Nixon stepped down before the start of the hearings.