Washington – House Democrats unveiled an impeachment resolution accusing President Trump of “inciting an insurrection” during the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill, approaching the president’s impeachment for the second time less than two weeks before he left office office.
O impeachment resolution was led by Democratic MPs David Cicilline, Jamie Raskin and Ted Lieu, has the support of at least 210 Democrats. The bill says the president “got involved in serious crimes and misdemeanors by inciting violence against the United States government”.
The resolution cites Trump’s speech to supporters on January 6 near the White House, before the crowd headed for the Capitol.
“Thus urged by President Trump, members of the crowd he addressed, in an attempt to, among other objectives, interfere with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, illegally violated and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed police officers, threatened members of Congress, the vice president and Congressional officials and was involved in other violent, deadly, destructive and seditious acts, “says the article.
A separate resolution presented on Monday by Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar includes a second charge of abuse of power related to the attack on the Capitol. An aide to Omar said the House leadership was considering including both charges in a final impeachment resolution.
In the meantime, House Republicans blocked a measure by Raskin asking Vice President Mike Pence to call the Cabinet and invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would vote on the measure on Tuesday and could proceed with the impeachment if Pence fails to act.
According to the 25th Amendment, the vice president can assume power as interim president if a majority of the Cabinet determines that the president is “unable to exercise the powers and duties of his office”.