Congressman David Cicilline, DR.I., who is one of the representatives who is taking the lead in an impeachment resolution targeting President Trump after the US Capitol rebellion last week, argued on Sunday that Congress is “obliged” accusing the president.
“What we witnessed on Wednesday was an attack on our democracy, an insurrection against the United States government during the sacred ritual of the Electoral College,” Cicilline told America’s News HQ on Sunday.
“We cannot allow this type of attack on our democracy, an attempted coup to take place without consequences,” he added.
House Democrats, including Cicilline, were writing a new impeachment article against Trump on Friday. The deadly Capitol riot two days earlier was a failed attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory and a major security breach that forced lawmakers to evacuate to safe locations.
Cicilline said on Sunday that she plans to present the impeachment article along with some 200 original co-sponsors, adding that she expects “that number to grow”.
He acknowledged that “there are some people who think, ‘Well, the president will be gone in 10 days, let’s forget about it.'”
“We took an oath to defend and protect the Constitution and our democracy. That responsibility is up to us. We have no other choice,” said Cicilline.
“Resignation would be preferable, invocation of the 25th Amendment would be preferable, but those two things are not going to happen, so Congress is obliged, under our office oath, to move forward and impeach this president.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York pressed for Trump to be removed from office through the 25th Amendment, arguing that it was too risky to keep Trump in power until January 20, when Biden is scheduled to take office.
But if Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet do not remove Trump, as the amendment would require, Democrats appeared to have broad support for a second round of impeachment.
The impeachment resolution was due to be presented to the House on Monday as a privileged resolution, Fox News confirmed. The impeachment article is for “inciting insurrection” and states that Trump was involved in crimes and misdemeanors for “deliberately inciting violence against the United States government”.
The resolution also calls Trump on his January 2 phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, where he asked the election officer to “find” enough votes to nullify Biden’s victory in the state – and seemed to make subtle threats if Raffensperger failed to do so.
Trump’s actions justify removal from office and “disqualification” to run again, says the impeachment resolution.
Speaking on Sunday Morning Futures, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, emphasized that “impeachment is for an incumbent president and the president, if Democrats pursue this, could not have a trial before leaving office, so I think it has real constitutional problems, but more importantly, it is not healthy for the nation. ”
Reacting to Jordan’s comments, Cicilline said: “The impeachment by the House would happen before the president stepped down.”
He pointed to a legal opinion “which says that the removal of the impeachment, that is, the trial, can happen after his departure”.
Cicilline continued, noting that there are precedents for this “so this is not a problem”.
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He stressed that “our responsibility in the Chamber is if we see impugnable conduct on the part of the president, we have the responsibility for impeaching him and I hope that is what we will do this week.”
Appearing on “America’s News HQ” immediately after Cicilline, Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., Argued that pursuing a “hasty impeachment” would interrupt Biden’s transition.
“Our country is suffering now, miserable after the horrific and outrageous events of last Wednesday and my personal vision, despite my absolute belief that the President’s behavior that day was reprehensible, are we not suffering enough? We are not in need of less boldness and more leadership in our country to move towards the peaceful transition of power on January 20 at noon? “Hill asked.
He also said that the impeachment “does not go to trial before taking office and therefore you are just disrupting Joe Biden’s transition.”
Hill emphasized that members of Congress “need to start building trust on both sides of the corridor.”
He went on to say that “blocking a second 10-day impeachment for this government, in my opinion, is not the way to build trust on the other side of the altar or to welcome the new Biden government to the goals they have and to the your speakers in the Senate. ”
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“All of this would be diverted, in my opinion, by pursuing a hasty impeachment,” continued Hill.
Fox News’s Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.