TRUMP BECOMES 1ST US PREZ TO BE IMPEACHED TWICE
Stage set for Senate trial as Donald Trump becomes the first American president to be impeached twice by the House
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump on Wednesday became the first American president to be impeached twice, with bipartisan support this time.
The US House of Representatives voted 232-197 to pass the resolution impeaching him, with 10 Republicans joining Democratic lawmakers to deliver the President a historic rebuke for inciting a mob of supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6 to prevent a joint session of Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Bien’s election victory.
“Today in a bipartisan way, the House demonstrated that no one is above the law, not even the President of the United States, that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump was impeached by the US House on Wednesday for a historic second time, charged with “incitement of insurrection” over the deadly storming of the US Capitol in a swift and stunning collapse of his final days in office.
With the Capitol secured by armed National Guard troops inside and out, the House voted 232-197 to impeach Trump. The proceedings moved at lightning speed, with lawmakers voting just one week after violent proTrump loyalists stormed the Capitol building.
Trump is the only American president to be impeached twice. It was the most bipartisan presidential impeachment in modern times, more so than the one against Bill Clinton in 1998.
As the US House voted to pass the resolution to impeach Trump, 10 Republicans joined Democratic lawmakers to deliver the president a historic rebuke. “Today in a bipartisan way, the House demonstrated that no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States, that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said before signing the article of impeachment to make it official.
The House will now transmit the article of impeachment to the Senate for a trial, to either convict the American president or acquit him.
Trump’s impeachment trial could begin on January 20, Inauguration Day, just as Democrat Joe Biden takes the oath of office in an extraordinary end to the defeated president’s tenure in the White House.
The trial timeline and schedule are largely set by Senate procedures and will start as soon as the House delivers the article of impeachment. That could mean starting the trial at 1pm on Inauguration Day. The ceremony at the Capitol starts at noon.
A conviction by the Senate will be a major blow for Trump because it will block him from holding federal office, derailing his plans to run again in 2024.
Trump joined a tiny group of impeached US presidents on December 18, 2019, when the action was taken on him for misusing the powers of his office to force a foreign nation, Ukraine, to investigate his political rival, Biden.
Trump has been largely out of sight and disengaged since January 6, except for a trip to Texas and has not yet reacted to the impeachment. But he released a video message denouncing the attack on the Capitol. “I want to be clear. I unequivocally condemn the violence we saw last week. Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and no place in our movement,” he said, and went on to appeal for peace, in the wake of heightened security warnings about armed protests between now and Biden’s inauguration.
Trump did not utter a word about the impeachment or the Senate trial up next. He has nearly a week left of his term, but appears to have largely checked out of governance.