With only eight days left of President Trump’s term, the House of Representatives is preparing for a second impeachment vote in the coming days, as outrage over the president’s role in taking over the Capitol by his supporters last week continues to reverberate. in Washington, DC
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will take two important steps towards Trump’s impeachment, which would make him the only president to face two charges.
On Tuesday night, the House will vote after 7:30 pm on a resolution by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Calling on Vice President Mike Pence to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. This amendment establishes a process by which the vice president and the majority of the Cabinet can declare to Congress that the president “is unable to exercise the powers and duties of his office”.
The vote is unlikely to take place until Tuesday night.
If Pence does not oblige – it is not expected to do so – then Democrats have said they will move forward with a second impeachment of the president, starting with the debate on Wednesday morning.
On this Thursday, June 18, 2020, archival photo, President Donald Trump looks at his phone during a roundtable with governors about the reopening of small businesses in America in the White House State Dining Room in Washington. Trump this week could become the only president to be impeached twice. (AP Photo / Alex Brandon, Archive)
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“Next, the House will adopt Raskin legislation on a regular basis to ask the Vice President to activate the 25th Amendment to remove the President,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, on Monday, after Republicans opposed the approval of the Rankin Resolution by unanimous consent. “We are asking the vice president to respond within 24 hours of approval.”
She added: “As our next step, we will move forward with the presentation of impeachment legislation. The president’s threat to America is urgent, and so will our action.”
Congressman David Cicilline, DR.I., said on Twitter on Monday that Democrats now have the votes to accuse Trump of “Inciting the Insurrection”.
The article states that “President Trump has endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government. He has threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power and endangered a co-equal branch of government. He therefore, he betrayed his confidence as president, to the obvious detriment of the people of the United States. “
In addition to the majority of Democrats supporting impeachment, as they did when the House impeached Trump in 2019, there appear to be several Republicans who can vote in favor of impeaching the president.
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Among the most watched will be Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Who has been one of the most critical members of the President’s Republican Party leadership. Congressman Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Trump’s most vocal critic, signaled on ABC’s “This Week” program that he would vote for Trump’s impeachment, although he considered such a vote a “smart move” at the time. Kinzinger said earlier that he would support the removal of Trump through the 25th Amendment.
Cheney, according to the Associated Press, told Republicans to “vote for their conscience” in the upcoming Trump-related polls this week.
The Punchbowl News reported Tuesday morning that the number of Republicans who can vote for Trump’s impeachment may be in the double digits.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Said in a letter to Republican Party members that he opposes the president’s impeachment. He specifically said that doing so would further divide the country following the attack on the Capitol last week and proposed other ways for the House to respond.
“Personally, I continue to believe that an impeachment at this time would have the opposite effect of uniting our country when we need to put America back on the path to unity and civility,” said McCarthy. “Despite the speaker’s pressure for impeachment, I heard members of our conference who raised at least four possibilities available to the House to ensure that the January 6 events are properly reported and prevented from happening in the future.”
Congresswoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Told Republican Party members to “vote for her conscience” in the next Trump-related lower house vote this week. (William B. Plowman / NBC / NBC NewsWire via Getty Images)
This included a censorship resolution against the president, a commission to investigate the attack, the reform of the Electoral Counting Law that establishes how Congress counts electoral votes and legislation on voting in future elections.
Other Republicans, especially some of the younger members of the conference, also said they were against impeachment.
Freshman Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., Said Democrats are making “false claims of a national crisis that calls for President Trump’s immediate removal from office.” He said the 25th Amendment resolution was a “shameful episode of political theater”.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, RN.J., who was previously a Democrat, said he opposed impeachment. So did Deputy Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
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With the debate scheduled to start on the impeachment article on Wednesday and Pelosi saying he would give Pence 24 hours after the 25th Amendment resolution passes before the House votes on the impeachment, it is possible that the House will vote on the impeachment article on it day.
But even this hasty vote would result in a compressed timetable for a possible Senate trial before Trump leaves office on January 20. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said that as soon as the Senate could start an impeachment trial it would be January 20.
But Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., according to a leading Democratic aide, is exploring the possibility of the Senate calling an impeachment trial even earlier under a 2004 Senate resolution that allows only the two party leaders rejoin the Senate. It is not clear whether McConnell would accept such a move.
Chad Pergram, Jason Donner, Jacqui Heinrich, Mike Emanuel and The Associated Press of Fox News contributed to this report.