The atmosphere in the House plenary was tense, as members debated whether President Trump should be impeached for his role in the attack on the United States Capitol:
“If inciting a deadly insurrection is not enough to cause a president to be impeached, what is it?” asked Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas.
“The president didn’t even mention the violence last Wednesday, let alone provoke or incite it,” said Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla. “You made a mockery of the impeachment process.”
Only four times in American history has Congress impeached a president.
1868: Andrew Johnson, for breaking a law that prevented him from firing his war secretary.
1998: Bill Clinton, for lying under oath about her relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky.
2019: Donald Trump (for the first time), for abuse of power – withholding military aid in an effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.
2021: Mr. Trump, again.
Correspondent Rita Braver asked, “Where do you think this impeachment will go down in history, in terms of the gravity of the crime?”
“This impeachment represents the most blatant accusation ever made against a president of the United States – to summon a crowd to the capital and then incite that crowd to commit an insurrection,” said American University history professor Allan Lichtman. He said the vote in favor of impeachment was impressive because ten members of the president’s own party – the largest impeachment in history – voted “yes”.
One of them was Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash. She said on the floor of the House: “My vote to remove our incumbent president is not a decision based on fear. I am not choosing sides; I am choosing the truth.”
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Braver asked her, “Was that a matter of conscience for you?”
“For me, it was a matter of, when I am a grandmother, can I look at it dispassionately and say to myself, ‘I believe in the posture I have taken’? And I can tell you now, I know I will.”
“Do you think you will lose your place because of this?”
“I don’t know,” replied Herrera Beutler. “I knew that, when voting, it would put everything in question.”
Watch: Congressman Jaime Herrera Beutler describes his experience while the Capitol was under attack:
Now, it is up to the United States Senate to decide whether to condemn President Trump. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell will not start a trial before his inauguration when Democrats take control of the Senate. Some experts argue that it is unconstitutional to try a president after he has left office. But others, like Rice University history professor Douglas Brinkley, say it’s allowed.
Braver asked, “So if Trump were convicted, would he automatically be prevented from holding public office again?”
“No, the first Impeachment Article to incite riots would need two-thirds of the U.S. Senate to agree and, if they did, there would be a second vote to prevent him from entering the US government forever in any form, shape or form – and that only needs 50%. “
But many Republicans argue that it is a matter of division and a waste of time chasing someone outside.
“Now is the time for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to lower the temperature,” said Representative Tom Tiffany, R-Wisc.
Braver asked Lichtman: “Doesn’t it make sense, on some levels, just to say, ‘Okay, it’s done, is it over’?”
He replied, “It is very important to have a moral stance against this.”
But whatever happens to President Trump, there is still the question of resolving the split in a deeply divided country. When asked how this period will accumulate in history, Brinkley replied: “I think it only loses to the Civil War in the sense of seeing our country so disunited.”
Still, Herrera Beutler believes that the impeachment process proves that our democracy is still strong: “I can vote my conscience in plenary and impeachment of the most powerful man in the world, not because I want to, but because I felt I had to do it. And the government doesn’t just throw me in jail. It’s working before our eyes. “
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Story produced by Jon Carras and Michelle Kessel. Editor: Carol Ross.