The House of Representatives on Wednesday joined Donald Trump for inciting a violent uprising against the U.S. government a week after he urged a bunch of his supporters to storm the Capitol of the United States. USA, a historic conviction that makes him the only American president to be twice accused of committing heinous crimes and misconduct.
After an emotional day-long debate in the chamber where lawyers fought last week as protesters marred the Capitol, nearly a dozen House Republicans joined the Democrats to take over. to the foundation’s grave treatment after they voted to hold Trump accountable before leaving office next week.
The same impeachment article accuses the president of being humiliated by “inciting terrorism” which led to what House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi described as immortal as a “day of fire. ”On Capitol Hill.
The president, Pelosi said, represented “a clear and immediate threat to the country we all love”.
The last count was 232 to 197, with 10 members of the presidential party supporting the second unprecedented impeachment, making it the most bipartisan impeachment vote in U.S. history. Among them were Liz Cheney, House Republican No. 3 and daughter of Dick Cheney, vice president of George W Bush. Although she did not rise to speak on Wednesday, she issued a blown statement announcing her decision, in which she said there was “never greater betrayal by the president of the United States” than Trump’s conduct on 6 January.
“The president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” Cheney said in a statement.
Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader of the House, tried to carve a middle ground for his caucus. He said Trump is “carrying responsibility” for Wednesday’s attack, while warning that impeachment would “follow the flames of partisan separation.” As an alternative, he suggested censure.
The House was willing to send the impeachment article to the Senate immediately after Wednesday’s vote. In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there was “just no chance” of concluding a lawsuit before Trump leaves office, ensuring that the deal would begin in the early days of led by Joe Biden.
While a victory for Trump will not involve premature removal, the Senate lawsuit would not be entirely symbolic. Two-thirds of the 100-member group must condemn a president, meaning 17 Republicans would have to join Democrats to pass a guilty verdict.
If convicted, he would not need a simple majority to disqualify him from holding public office again.
“Make no mistake,” said New York senator Chuck Schumer, who will become the majority leader when his party takes control of the chamber later this month. impeachment law in the United States Senate; there will be a vote to convict the president of heinous crimes and misconduct; and if the president is convicted, a vote will be barred from running for office. -rithist. “
While it is currently considered unlikely that many Senate Republicans would break with Trump, two have called for the president to resign, New York said. Times that McConnell believes the president had committed accessible crimes.
McConnell’s result on Trump is important, because as Washington’s most powerful Republican his opinion could make it easier for others in his party to turn against the president.
In a letter to colleagues Wednesday, McConnell said he had not “made a final decision on how I will vote, and I expect to hear the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate. . “
The deadly attack a week ago came as the House and Senate were in a session to test Biden’s influence in the November primary election, a result Trump refused to accept. Five people died in the siege, including a police officer.
“We’re debating this historic step at a real crime scene, and we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the president of the United States,” said communicator Jim McGovern, a Democrat in Massachusetts and chairman of the rules committee, opening Wednesday session.
Everywhere members argued that the impeachment of the overthrow of a president was a reminder of the devastation wrought by protesters – the first U.S. Capitol post since British troops burned down the building at one point. war of 1812.
The lawyers of the House of Commons building, badly defended last Wednesday, have been turned into a fortress, guarded by thousands of national defense troops and by metal detectors located outside the doors of the building. room. Some Republicans rebelled against the new security protocols, bypassing the security check.
Trump unrepentantly declared his inflammatory language at a rally on Tuesday just before the mob marched on the Capitol “completely appropriate”. Efforts to hold him to account were simply a “continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics,” he said.
On Wednesday, Trump issued an official statement through the White House stating: “Despite reports of further demonstrations, I urge that there be no violence, NO infringement and NO damage of any kind. “
Few Republicans were willing to defend Trump’s sensible behavior last week. But those who oppose impeachment opposed the brutal nature of the proceedings.
“I can’t think of any action the House can take that is more likely to divide the American people,” said Tom Cole, a Republican from Oklahoma, who was among more than 120 House Republicans who voted this week. last to reject the election votes of major swing states won by Biden, despite officials at all levels calling the November vote the safest election in U.S. history.
Democrats were arrested with calls for bipartisanship, especially from a Republican who refused to recognize the effects of Biden’s election and whose turn turned to democratic election results even after the attack on the Capitol.
“It’s kind of hearing that these people wouldn’t be trying to destroy and kill our government if we weren’t just as sensible as they were,” said Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat convener who will be chief impeachment manager. .
The House went ahead with an impeachment Wednesday after Mike Pence formally rejected calls for Trump to seize power by attacking the 25th amendment to the U.S. constitution, allowing a presidential president to removed which is deemed unfit to perform his function.
Pence’s signal came just hours before the house passed a resolution calling for the unprecedented action.
Trump’s countdown day on Capitol Hill comes less than a year after he was acquitted in a Senate impeachment trial to pressure Ukraine to open investigations on Biden and his son. But with just days left in his presidency, the political outlook had shifted dramatically.
No House Republican voted in support when Trump was introduced in 2019 over his efforts to force the Ukrainian leader to examine Biden’s family, then his election rival .
But as fear turned to fire in the days since the attack on the Capitol, Republican leaders have signaled – swiftly and openly – a desire to clean up Trump ‘s party. His breakup with the president came just after months of suffering and the introduction of his false campaign about a stolen election, long after it was beyond doubt clear that he was missing. .