WASHINGTON – The House accused President Donald Trump on Wednesday for the second time, accusing the president of “inciting insurrection” for his role in the violent riot by a pro-Trump crowd from the U.S. Capitol that left five people dead and terrorized lawmakers while they sought to affirm the victory of President-elect Joe Biden.
The impeachment vote passed the Democratic-controlled House from 232 to 197, with 10 Republicans voting against the president.
The House must immediately send the impeachment article to the Senate so that they can begin the process of holding a trial to determine whether to convict Trump and potentially prevent him from running for office again.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said the trail would begin after the Senate met on January 19, just a day before Biden took office.
Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a member of the Republican Party leadership, was the highest-ranking Republican to vote for Trump’s impeachment. She was joined by John Katko from New York, Adam Kinzinger from Illinois, Fred Upton from Michigan, Peter Meijer from Michigan, Anthony Gonzalez from Ohio, Tom Rice from South Carolina, David Valadao from California and Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse from Washington .
No House Republicans voted to impeach Trump during the investigation earlier in his term, which resulted in the Senate’s acquittal.
“These rebels were not patriots. They were not part of a political base to be served or administered. They were domestic terrorists and justice must prevail,” said spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi on the floor of the House, beginning two hours of debate before the final vote was held.
“But they did not emerge from the vacuum. They were sent here, sent by the president, with words like a cry of ‘fighting like hell’,” continued Pelosi, D-Calif. “The president saw the rebels not as enemies of freedom, as they are, but as a means to a terrible goal: the goal of him personally holding on to power. “
Many House Republicans argued during the debate that Trump did not have due process and that the impeachment process was rushed. Some said that the impeachment of the president for the second time would only further divide the country, while others maintained that Trump’s actions on January 6 did not meet the legal standard of incitement.
“I believe that impeaching the president in such a short time would be a mistake,” said Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House’s top Republican, during the debate.
“No investigation has been completed. No hearing has been held,” he added. “An impeachment vote will further fuel the party divide.”
Other Republicans shouted hypocrisy, criticizing Democrats for their support for the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the country last summer.
“For months, our cities were set on fire, police stations were set on fire, our businesses were destroyed and they said nothing,” said Representative Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. “Some cited the metaphor that the president lit the flame. Well, they lit real flames. “
It is unclear what will happen in the Senate once the trial begins. While it is likely that Trump has already stepped down by then, a vote to condemn him may still prevent him from taking a federal position again.
McConnell told his Republican colleagues on Wednesday afternoon that he remains undecided on whether to vote to condemn the president.
“Although the press is full of speculation, I have not made a final decision on how I am going to vote and I intend to hear the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate,” McConnell wrote in a letter to his colleagues.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that McConnell expressed particular support for Trump’s impeachment Democrats’ action.
McConnell’s leadership team – which includes Republican Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Rick Scott of Florida and Roy Blunt of Missouri – did not receive a warning from the Senate leader before The New York Times story and seemed caught up in surprise, according to several advisers familiar with the day’s events.
It is rare for McConnell to take a position without first consulting his leadership team or even the entire conference. Some advisers believe that if McConnell spoke out publicly in favor of impeachment, other senators would join him.
The Senate trial will take place in the early days of the Biden government. Some Democrats expressed concerns that the trial could run out of Senate time, undermining Biden’s ability to quickly confirm his nominees for the cabinet and get his government up and running.
The impeachment vote follows a House vote Tuesday night to formally call on Vice President Mike Pence to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. The act, which was largely symbolic, was passed by the House 223 to 205 along party lines, with Kinzinger as the only Republican to vote in favor of the measure.
Pence, who was one of the targets of the violent crowd that attacked the Capitol last week, informed Pelosi shortly before the vote that he would not invoke the 25th Amendment, writing in a letter to the president who did not believe “such a course of action is in the best interest of our nation or consistent with our Constitution. “
Lawmakers arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday morning to debate the article just a week after the attack, entering a building now heavily guarded and filled with thousands of National Guard officers.
Hundreds of armed officers slept on the Capitol on Tuesday night. The Senate Historian’s Office said it was aware of only two other occasions when troops stayed overnight at the Capitol: during World War II and amid the riots in DC in 1968.
The “incitement to insurrection” impeachment article it was introduced on Monday by three Democrats from the House: Jaime Raskin from Maryland, Ted Lieu from California and David Cicilline from Rhode Island. He says Trump “has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy and the constitution if he is allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-government and the rule of law.”
“He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power and endangered a co-equal branch of government,” continues the five-page impeachment article. “With that, he betrayed his confidence as president, to manifest injury to the people of the United States.”
The article also cites Trump’s January 2 call urging Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to override state election results as part of his effort “to subvert and obstruct certification of the results. of the 2020 presidential election. “
While the House debated the impeachment article, Trump, unable to tweet about the process as he did when the House impeached it in December 2019 after Twitter banned his account last week, released a statement asking that “there should be no violence, DO NOT break the law and WITHOUT vandalism of any kind. “
“This is not what I stand for and it is not what the United States stands for. I appeal to ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers. “
Pelosi appointed nine Democratic impeachment managers to stand trial on Tuesday, with Raskin leading the team that will try to sue Trump.