Trump impeached again
Donald Trump last night became the first US president to be impeached for a second time, just a week after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol.
Ten Republicans joined the entire Democrat caucus to pass the ar ticle of impeachment for a single charge of “incitement of insurrection”.
The Senate will now hold a trial.
Donald Trump became the first US president to be impeached for a second time just a week after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol.
Representatives split largely – but not totally – on part y lines, voting 232 to 197 to impeach, with ten out of 211 Republicans joining the entire House Democrat caucus to pass the article of impeachment for a single charge of “incitement of insurrection”.
During a debate in the House of Representatives, speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Repub - li can sand Democrats to "search their souls” ahead of the historic vote.
Ms Pelosi called Mr Trump a “clear and present danger to the nation we all love”.
And House majority leader, Democrat Steny Hoyer, summing up for the party, said Mr Trump had created a “glass house of lies”.
House minority leader Kevin Mccarthy said Trump “bears responsibility” for last week’s take over of the Capitol but argued against impeachment so close to the end of his term.
Actual removal seems unlikely before the January 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Bid en, although Democrats argued that impeachment would prevent Mr Trump from running for president again as 2024, as he has suggested.
A spokesman for Senate majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said the Republican leader would not agree to bring the chamber back immediately, all but ensuring a Senate trial could not begin at least until January 19.
And Mr Mcconnell last night said in a letter to colleagues that he has not decided how to vote on Mr Trump's impeachment. While Mr Trump' s first impeachment in 2019 brought no Republican votes in the House, several Republican leaders broke with the part y to join Democrats this time, saying Mr Trump violated his oath to protect and defend US democracy.
However, most Re pub licans voted" no" andre presentative Tom Mcclintock of California said during debate that impeaching Mr Trump a week before he leaves office is a “petty, vindictive and gratuitous act”.
As for threats of more trouble from intruders, security was tight with massed National Guard troops and metal detector screenings for representatives entering the House chamber.
Though Mr McConnell is declining to has ten an impeachment trial, a Republican strategist said that he believes Mr Trump committed impeachable offences and considers the Democrats' impeachment drive an opportunity to reduce the divisive, chaotic president's hold on his party.
Mr Mcconnell called major Republican donors last weekend to gauge their thinking about Mr Trump and was told that the president had clearly crossed a line. Mr Mcconnell told them he was finished with Mr Trump, said the strategist.
The stunning collapse of Mr Trump's final days in office, along with warnings of more violence ahead, leaves the nation at an uneasy juncture. H took no responsibility for the riot, suggesting it was the drive to oust him rather than his actions that was dividing the country.