The speed of the vote and Republican support underscore the fury that lawmakers feel over the role of Trump inciting the rioters who seized the Capitol with months of false rhetoric about the election being stolen from him. The impeachment resolution that the House will vote on Wednesday accuses Trump of a single article, “inciting insurrection”.
The number of Republicans who will vote for impeachment remains unclear. So far, five Republicans have said they will vote for Trump’s impeachment. Although House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and minority leader Steve Scalise oppose impeachment – arguing it is a divisive response – House Republican No. 3 Liz Cheney of Wyoming announced on Tuesday who would vote in favor, issuing a forceful statement that there accused “there was never a greater betrayal by a president of the United States in his charge and his oath to the Constitution”.
The split within the Republican Party over Wednesday’s vote contrasts sharply with Trump’s impeachment by House Democrats in 2019, when House Republicans joined in opposition. And Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has indicated that he believes Trump’s impeachment will make it easier to get rid of Republican Party president and Trumpism, The New York Times, CNN and other media reported on Tuesday in another sign that Republicans are rapidly putting distance between the party and the president who has ruled it for the past four years.
Democrats quickly joined the use of impeachment in the final days of Trump’s presidency to serve as an appropriate response to the president’s conduct and as a way to push for his resignation from office before the end of his term, although that scenario seems unlikely. The House passed a resolution urging Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from power on Tuesday night, but Pence sent a letter before the vote saying he would not. Separately, a source close to Trump also told CNN late on Tuesday that “there is no consideration of his resignation”, referring to the president, adding: “He will not do that”.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected Republican efforts to take different action, such as censorship, in response to Trump’s role in the disturbances. She appointed impeachment managers on Tuesday night, a team of nine Democrats to be led by Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, in a sign that she does not plan to hesitate to send the articles to the Senate.
“The president’s actions demonstrate his absolute inability to fulfill the most basic and fundamental powers and duties of his office, so the president must be removed from office immediately,” Pelosi said on Tuesday night.
Trump showed no regrets for his role in last week’s Capitol riots, protesting impeachment on Tuesday in his first public comments since pro-Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol last week.
“It was analyzed,” Trump said of his comments last week to the crowd before the riots. “People thought what I said was totally appropriate.”
Wednesday’s impeachment vote threatens to complicate the early days of President-elect Joe Biden’s administration, both in his efforts to reach Republicans and because the Senate is likely to be tied to trial at the time Biden is taking office.
Although McConnell remained silent about support for impeachment, he said he does not plan to bring the Senate back before January 19, which means that a possible Senate trial is likely to take place in a Senate led by the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer. Both Biden and Schumer argued that the Senate will try to split its days while conducting the trial, so that the Senate can confirm Biden’s nominees and consider Covid-19’s stimulus legislation while carrying out the impeachment trial.
CNN’s Pamela Brown and Jim Acosta contributed to this report.
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