“This is urgent – it is an emergency of the highest magnitude,” the California Democrat told reporters on Thursday. “My phone has exploded with ‘impeach, impeach, impeach’. ”
Leading Democrats say there have not yet been serious discussions about Trump’s impeachment for the second time in his presidency, something that has never been done before.
But President-elect Joe Biden has no appetite to file an impeachment case against Trump, people familiar with the matter said Thursday night, as he prefers to keep his focus on ownership in less than two weeks. “Impeachment would not help to unify this country,” said a person close to Biden, who added that “this is an issue for Congress to decide.” Sources told CNN on Thursday that the president-elect had no intention of giving an opinion on the 25th Amendment negotiations.
If Pence and the Cabinet do not invoke the 25th Amendment, Democrats have been discussing a process that would allow them to bypass committee procedures and move impeachment articles directly to the floor within two days.
Discussions are expected to intensify on Friday, when House Democrats hold their first caucus call since the attack on the United States Capitol, with an increasing number of members pushing for impeachment.
This call, scheduled for ET noon, will be an important moment in terms of what will happen in the next two weeks. Although House Democrats after House Democrats supported a second impeachment, the caucus itself has not met since the dramatic events took place. The call will be the first opportunity for lawmakers to speak to the leadership on the issue of impeachment, the issue of the 25th Amendment and significant security issues related to the Capitol.
In fact, due to the tight schedule, it is not possible to launch a formal impeachment inquiry as in 2019, an arduous task that took several months.
But one option that Democrats are exploring: offering impeachment articles through a privileged resolution. This would allow the chamber to proceed with a vote for Trump’s impeachment within two days, skip hearings, pass an organizational resolution, an investigation and go straight to a vote.
Leading Democrats in both chambers seem to take this approach.
“We don’t need a long debate,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York on Wednesday.
The first step is to draft the resolution, something that several Democratic members are now circulating.
What’s more traction is being drafted by representatives David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Ted Lieu of California – three members of the House Judiciary Committee. Others have proposed options as well, including Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar.
But serious discussions about how to proceed have not yet taken shape.
“There were no discussions that I participated in regarding impeachment planning,” said New York City deputy Hakeem Jeffries, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and part of his party’s leadership. Jeffries reiterated to CNN that the preferred route is for the Trump administration to invoke the 25th Amendment.
“The sooner the better,” said Jeffries of forcing Trump to step down. “It is a major constitutional issue to follow the path of impeachment, ultimately, some form of judgment, conviction or removal.”
Any member can offer a privileged resolution, but it must be when the Chamber is in session. It cannot be a brief pro forma session when no legislative matter is being addressed. At the moment, the House is not scheduled to return until January 19, but House majority majority leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, has not ruled out the possibility of the House returning to the session next week.
Once the resolution is offered, it will automatically be put to a vote within 48 hours. With the support of the majority, the House would accuse Trump, sending him to the Senate for a trial on the possibility of removing him from office.
But with so little time left in Trump’s presidency, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell would essentially be able to run out and avoid a Senate impeachment trial in Trump’s few remaining days in office, according to Hill sources. .
McConnell declined to comment on the Kentucky Republican’s views on the invocation of the 25th amendment.
Impeachment was not the preferred route for the day, nor was it considered a likely option for Democratic leaders. But the momentum of the members supporting this creates momentum for something that leaders did not initially plan to pursue.
Given the tight timeline and volatile dynamics, at this point nothing is certain and there is a feeling that the dust needs to settle a little before a real course of action is defined.
It is possible that Congress will take steps to ensure that, if Trump is impeached, the Senate can ensure that he is never elected again. But that would still require the support of two-thirds of the Senate to make it happen.
This story has been updated with further developments.
Jeff Zeleny contributed to this story.