Democrats say surprise move to postpone impeachment vote was to head off GOP strategy of dragging the vote into the middle of the night

• After a marathon session of debate, the House Judiciary Committee abruptly postponed a historic vote late Thursday on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
• While the move produced shock and outrage from Republican members of the committee, the move to recess the committee until the next morning was a strategic play by Democrats.
• "We suspect there was some strategy to drag us into the middle of the night so they could say, 'oh the Judiciary Committee did this in the middle of the night, in the thick of night and so-on and so-forth,'" Rep. Jamie Raskin told CNN.
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After a marathon session of debate, the House Judiciary Committee abruptly postponed a historic vote late Thursday on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

The surprise move shut down a divisive 14-hour session that dragged with sharp partisan divisions but had been expected to end with the charges being sent to the full House for a vote next week.

Approval of the charges against the president is still expected early Friday in the committee. But the sudden turn punctuated the sharp partisan split in the Congress, and the nation, over impeaching the president. The committee, made up of some of the most strident Democrats and Republicans in Congress, clashed for all day and into the night as Republicans insisted on lengthy debate on amendments designed to kill the two formal charges with no hope of winning votes from the majority Democrats.

Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York, said the committee would resume the session at 10 a.m. Friday.

While the move produced shock from Republican members of the committee - Ranking Member Doug Collins called it a "kangaroo court" - the move to recess the committee until the next morning was a strategic play by Democrats.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland who sits on the committee, told CNN that "we suspect there was some strategy to drag us into the middle of the night so they could say, 'oh the Judiciary Committee did this in the middle of the night, in the thick of night and so-on and so-forth.'"

"We want to do it in broad daylight, so first thing in the morning, so everyone can see exactly what's going on," he continued.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.