Washington – The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump for inciting a Capitol insurrection that left five people dead, cementing his place in history as the only president to be charged twice in a bipartisan rebuke that was passed with unprecedented speed.
The final vote was from 232 to 197, with 10 Republicans joining all 222 Democrats in support of a single impeachment article accusing the president of “inciting insurrection”.
“We know that the President of the United States has incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, before the vote. “He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.”
Mr. Trump was first charged in December 2019 for his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Biden family. His second impeachment comes just a week before President-elect Joe Biden takes office as his successor. Only two other presidents have been impeached since the republic was founded.
On January 6, the president addressed supporters near the White House, urging them to “fight like hell” as members of Congress prepared to formalize Biden’s victory. Subsequently, an angry mob marched over the Capitol and invaded the complex, smashing windows and knocking down doors to gain access to Congress hallways. The crowd managed to interrupt the counting of electoral votes for several hours.
House Democrats brought the impeachment resolution to the vote with unprecedented speed that reflected the gravity of the attack on the Capitol and the limited time left in Trump’s term. The resolution was first presented on Monday, with Democrats renouncing the typical process of holding hearings and conducting an investigation.
The impeachment article will soon go to the Senate, where lawmakers are expected to hold a judgment on Trump’s conviction and removal from office. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that he had not made a decision on whether to vote to convict the president at the trial.
With only seven days left of Trump’s term, the Senate trial could extend to his successor’s term. If that happens, the Senate may still decide to condemn Trump and prevent him from holding any federal office in the future. A vote to condemn requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate.
The president refused to take responsibility for his role in inciting the crowd that invaded the Capitol, insisting on Tuesday that his speech before the riot was “entirely appropriate”.