House lawmakers are due to present impeachment articles against Donald Trump on Monday, accusing him of inciting an insurrection after the president encouraged a crowd that stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday.
The impeachment articles – written by representatives David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Ted Lieu of California and Jamie Raskin of Maryland – gathered signatures from more than 150 House Democrats.
Although Trump has only less than two weeks in office, lawmakers say the risk of leaving the volatile leader in office leaves no option but impeachment. The move would mark a second unprecedented impeachment during Trump’s presidential term.
“This conduct is so serious and this president represents such a clear and present danger to our democracy, I don’t think you can just say let’s wait,” said Cicilline in an interview.
Pelosi repeatedly pressured Vice President Mike Pence to remove Trump using the 25th amendment to no avail. She said in a letter to House Democrats on Friday, if Trump does not step down voluntarily, she will move forward with impeachment.
“Today, the Congress of Democrats in the House had a conversation for hours that was sad, moving and patriotic”, Pelosi said in a statement. “It was a conversation unlike any other, because it followed a day unlike any other.”
Pelosi said that the deliberations continue. Here are the steps that need to be taken in order to accuse Trump:
- The Chamber, meeting again at the beginning of the recess, votes with a simple majority to approve impeachment articles.
- The articles are then sent to the Senate, triggering an automatic trial that would begin at 1 pm the next day.
- After the trial, a two-thirds majority vote is needed in the Senate to remove Trump from office.
The Senate is currently split 50-50 between the Republican and Democratic parties, which means that several Republicans would need to break the alliance with the party to vote Trump soon. One and a half Republican senators say they can abandon the boat and vote for impeachment so far.
Some representatives said the impeachment process should start more quickly. Ilhan Omar, a Democratic Congresswoman from Minnesota, said “Monday is not yet early enough”.
“The nation is waiting for us to respond as quickly as possible,” she tweeted on Friday. She had already strongly condemned Wednesday’s attack, saying “we cannot allow Trump to remain in office”.
“It is a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath,” she wrote.