Several Republicans to push for impeachment
The push for an unprecedented second impeachment of President Donald Trump took a dramatic bipartisan turn yesterday, as several senior House Republicans joined the Democratic effort to remove Trump for his role in inciting an angry mob to storm the Capitol last week and the White House braced for more defections.
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House Republican, and Rep. John Katko of New York, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, both publicly held Trump responsible for last week’s violence. They were joined by Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-ill., an outspoken critic of Trump’s efforts to question the November election, and Rep. Fred Upton, R-mich., a respected veteran dealmaker.
‘‘The president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,’’ Cheney said in a statement, adding, ‘‘There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.’’
A senior administration official said the White House expects at least a dozen Republicans to support impeachment in the likely House vote today.
Trump, banned from Twitter, for the first time lacks the ability to aim angry tweets at those who oppose him. He has asked Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to urge fellow Republicans to oppose impeachment, an official said. Top House GOP leaders have announced their opposition to impeachment but have not given theirmembers an alternative way to register disapproval of Trump or the assault.
The Republican statements supporting impeachment – which came after Trump delivered remarks earlier yesterday expressing no regret for his actions – represented a watershed moment. They signalled high-level GOP concern about the roles of Trump and other party leaders in spreading conspiracy theories about the election, and reflected how much the political landscape has shifted since Trump was acquitted in his first impeachment trial last February.
House members were set to take a preliminary step toward impeachment yesterday, taking up a resolution urging Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to use their powers under the 25th Amendment to remove Trump immediately.
But in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Pence wrote that such an action would not be ‘‘in the best interest of our nation or consistent with our constitution.’’ Pelosi had indicated that if Pence did not act, she would move immediately to impeach the president. – Washington Post