House races to oust Trump; president responds defiantly
Five Republicans in House say they’ll vote for impeachment
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House rushed ahead Tuesday toward impeaching President Donald Trump for the deadly Capitol attack, taking time only to try to persuade his vice president to push him out first.
In his first remarks to reporters since last week’s violence, Trump showed no remorse, blaming the impeachment drive itself for the “tremendous anger” in America.
Already scheduled to leave office next week, Trump is on the verge of becoming the only president in history to be twice impeached. His incendiary rhetoric at a rally ahead of the Capitol uprising is now in the impeachment charge against him, even as the falsehoods he spread about election fraud are still being championed by some Republicans.
The House on Tuesday night approved a resolution urging Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove Trump with a Cabinet vote and “declare what is obvious to a horrified Nation: That the President is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office.” The resolution passed 223-205, largely along party lines.
Democrats proceeded even though Pence said he would not do what the resolution asked. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he said it would not be in the best interest of the nation and it was “time to unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden.”
Five Republican lawmakers, including third-ranking House GOP leader Liz Cheney of Wyoming, announced they would
vote to impeach Trump on Wednesday, cleaving the Republican leadership.
“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” Cheney said in a statement. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
Republican Reps. John Katko of New York, a former federal prosecutor; Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, an Air Force veteran; Fred Upton of Michigan and Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state announced they, too, would vote to impeach. Kinzinger was the lone Republican voting in favor of the resolution calling on Pence to act.
Trump, meanwhile, warned lawmakers off impeachment and suggested it was the drive to oust him that was dividing the country.
“To continue on this path, I think it’s causing tremendous danger to our country, and it’s causing tremendous anger,” Trump said during a visit to a portion of newly constructed border wall in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
The president denied any culpability in the riot. He said his remarks encouraging supporters to march to the Capitol were “totally appropriate.”
In a more conciliatory statement, the president seemed to instruct his supporters not to rise up in violence: “Now is the time for our nation to heal. And it’s time for peace and for calm. Respect for law enforcement is the foundation of the MAGA agenda,” he said, referring to his “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
The outgoing president offered no condolences for those dead or injured, only saying, “I want no violence.”
With Pence’s agreement to invoke the 25th Amendment ruled out, the House will move swiftly to impeachment Wednesday.
Trump faces a single charge — “incitement of insurrection” — in the impeachment resolution.
During an emotional debate ahead of the House action, Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., urged her Republican colleagues to understand the stakes, recounting a phone call from her son as she fled during the siege.
“Sweetie, I’m OK,” she told him. “I’m running for my life.”
But Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a top Trump ally just honored this week at the White House, refused to concede that Biden won the election outright.
Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., tied such talk to the Capitol attack, interjecting, “People came here because they believed the lie.”
A handful of other House Republicans could vote to impeach — and leaders are allowing them to vote as they wish — but in the narrowly divided Senate there are unlikely to be the twothirds votes to convict him.
The unprecedented events, with just over a week remaining in Trump’s term, are unfolding in a nation bracing for more unrest.
The FBI has warned of potential armed protests in Washington and many states by Trump loyalists ahead of Biden’s inauguration, and Capitol Police warned lawmakers to be on alert.
The inauguration ceremony on the west steps of the Capitol will be offlimits to the public.
Metal detectors were installed at the entrance to the House chamber.
Fending off concerns that an impeachment trial would bog down Biden’s first days in office, the president-elect is encouraging senators to divide their time between taking up his priorities of confirming his nominees and approving COVID relief while also conducting the trial.