“This is an emergency – this is an emergency of the highest magnitude,” the California Democrat told reporters Thursday. “My phone has exploded with ‘impeach, impeach, impeach.'”
Top Democrats say there have yet to be major talks about forcing Trump for the second time in his presidency, something that has never been done before.
But President Joe Biden has no desire to open an impeachment move against Trump, people familiar with the matter said Thursday night, as he would prefer to keep it focused. to take up a post in less than two weeks. “Impeachment would not help the unification of this country,” said someone close to Biden, who said that “this is a matter to be decided by Congress.” Sources told CNN earlier Thursday that it was not expected at the President to select the negotiations on the 25th Amendment.
If Pence and the cabinet do not adopt the 25th Amendment, Democrats have been debating a process that would allow them to bypass committee business and move impeachment articles directly within two day.
Talks are expected to intensify on Friday, as House Democrats withhold their first full-caucus call from the attack on the U.S. Capitol as more and more members push for impeachment.
This call, scheduled for noon ET, will be an important moment in terms of what’s to come over the next two weeks. While House Democrat after House Democrat has backed a second impeachment, the caucus itself has accumulated since the dramatic events took place. The call is the first opportunity for lawyers to speak to leadership about the impeachment case, the 25th Amendment case and major security concerns related to the Capitol.
Of course, with the tight timeline, it is not possible to launch a formal impeachment investigation as in 2019, a hard promise that took several months.
But there is one option that Democrats are exploring: offering impeachment articles through a welfare resolution. That allowed the chamber to move forward with a vote to impeach Trump within two days, skipping hearings, approving organizational intent, scrutiny and moving directly to a vote.
The best Democrats in both chambers seem to be adopting this approach.
“We don’t need a long debate,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Wednesday.
The first step is to draft the resolution, something that several Democrat members are now circulating.
The one with the most traction is drafted by Reps. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Ted Lieu of California – three members of the House Review Committee. Others have suggested options as well, including Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar.
But major discussions on how to proceed should remain unshaken.
“There have been no conversations that I’ve been involved in planning in terms of impeachment,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a member of the House Review Committee and part of his party leadership. Jeffries reiterated to CNN that the Trump administration’s preferred way is to call the 25th Amendment.
“The sooner the better,” Jeffries said of forcing Trump out of office. “Going down the road of impeachment is a heavy constitutional issue, ultimately a kind of trial, condemnation or removal.”
Any member may move a resolution of benefit, but it must be present when the House is in session. It cannot be a short pro forma session when no legislative action has been taken. For now, the House is not expected to return until Jan. 19, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, has not confirmed that he will bring the House back to next week ‘s session.
Once the resolution is proposed, it would automatically be put up for a vote within 48 hours. With the support of the majority, the House would impeach Trump, sending him to the Senate for a lawsuit whether he should resign.
But with so little time left in Trump’s presidency, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would be able to run out of the clock and avoid a Senate impeachment test in the remaining few days. the Trump post, according to Hill sources.
McConnell declined to comment on Kentucky Republican views on the introduction of the 25th Amendment.
Impeachment was not the best way to go into the day, and it was not considered a similar option for Democratic leaders. But the movement of the members behind it creates a movement for some leaders that they did not originally intend to follow.
With the tight timeline and volatile dinamics, at this point nothing is certain and there is a sense that the dust needs to settle a bit before a course of action can be launched.
Congress is able to take steps to ensure that if Trump were to be introduced, the Senate could do so that he would not be re-elected to office. But that still needed the support of two – thirds of the Senate for that to happen.
This story has been updated with further improvements.
Jeff Zeleny contributed to this story.