President Donald Trump reacted quickly after the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against him.
Using the words he's embraced nearly every day for weeks, he called the proceedings “a witch hunt, a scam, a hoax.”
The charges approved Friday now go to the full House for an expected vote next week.
They were approved strictly along party lines, 23 Democrats to 17 Republicans.
Trump is accused of abuse of power, a charge stemming from his July phone call pressuring the Ukrainian president to announce an investigation of Democrats as Trump was withholding US aid.
He's also accused of obstructing Congress' investigation.
Early Friday, Trump tweeted his approval of the Republican effort, calling the GOP lawmakers on the panel “warriors.”
Trump denies doing anything wrong.
After the votes, Nevada Rep. Susie Lee said that she will vote in favor of impeaching Trump when the issue goes to the House floor.
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Ranking Member Doug Collins called the postponement "inappropriate," and argued that Democrats only moved the vote to get greater media attention.
"The chairman's integrity is gone," a furious Collins told reporters after Thursday's meeting. "Words cannot describe how inappropriate this was."
However, a senior House Judiciary staffer argued to CBS News that a Friday vote would be in the interest of greater transparency.
"Republican Judiciary members have complained about process and transparency, yet apparently wanted to force the Committee to vote on Articles of Impeachment in the dark of night. In the interests of doing our constitutional duty in a transparent way for the American public, the Chairman scheduled the vote of the Articles for 10 a.m. Friday morning," the staffer said.
Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, also made that argument, tweeting on Friday morning that "the American people deserve an impeachment vote in the light of day."
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham released this statement:
“This desperate charade of an impeachment inquiry in the House Judiciary Committee has reached its shameful end. The President looks forward to receiving in the Senate the fair treatment and due process which continues to be disgracefully denied to him by the House.”
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(The Associated Press, CBS News contributed to this report.)
