Trump responds to impeachment push
WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump denied responsibility for the U.S. Capitol riot that left five people dead and the FBI vowed to prosecute hundreds of his supporters who took part in the attack, the No. 3 House GOP leader announced she was voting for impeachment.
It marked the starkest Republican defection yet and could open the door for other GOP House members to join Democrats during Wednesday night’s historic impeachment vote.
“The president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing,” Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in statement. “There has never
been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
Earlier in the day, Trump, making his first public appearance since the Jan. 6 attack, strongly denied inciting his supporters and denounced the move to impeach him a second time.
“The impeachment hoax is a continuation of the greatest and most vicious witch hunt in the history of our country,” Trump said, heading to a trip to Alamo, Texas, to visit the border wall. “It’s causing tremendous anger, division and pain, far greater than most people will ever understand, which is very dangerous for the USA, especially at this very tender time.” He insisted his speech to supporters shortly before the melee was “totally appropriate.”
It was not the kind of contrition some Republicans hoped to hear and seemed to accelerate Trump’s loss of power and influence in the final days of his presidency.
By late afternoon, Rep. John Katko, a moderate Republican from upstate New York, became the first in his party to announce he would vote to impeach Trump. Cheney become the second, followed by Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. Nearly a dozen others are thought to be weighing a vote for impeachment.
That’s a stark contrast from 2019, when no House Republican dared vote to impeach Trump for his pressuring of Ukrainian government officials to investigate then-presidential rival and now Presidentelect Joe Biden. That unity was long a source of pride for Trump.
Democratic lawmakers have prepared a single article of impeachment, accusing the president of inciting an insurrection. With Democratic-control of the chamber and expected GOP defections, Trump is all but certain to become the only U.S. president impeached twice.
Amid heightened security concerns, metal detectors were installed at the entrance to the House chamber Tuesday night. The screening of lawmakers for weapons was yet another ignominious first in the Capitol, triggered by widespread concern of renewed violence surrounding the vote and next week’s inauguration.
The FBI warned Monday of armed proTrump
protests planned for all 50 state capitols and the U.S. Capitol in coming days.
Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they have opened a broad investigation of possible sedition and conspiracy in connection with the attack at the Capitol. More than 170 case files have been opened by the FBI, with charges filed already against more than 70 people.
Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney in Washington, said at a news briefing that the number of people charged will likely “grow into the hundreds,”
“We’re looking at significant felony cases tied to sedition” and conspiracy that could carry prison terms of up to 20 years, Sherwin said.
In an extraordinary message to all members of the armed forces Tuesday, the military’s top leadership called the Jan. 6 Capitol riot “a direct assault on the U.S. Congress, the Capitol building and our constitutional process.”
The email message, signed by Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the uniformed heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and National Guard, emphasized that Biden would be inaugurated next week and become commander in chief.
The military leaders told troops that their job was to “support and defend the Constitution,” adding that “any act to disrupt the constitutional process is not only against our traditions, values, and oath; it is against the law.”
During his brief public appearances Tuesday, Trump insisted that “we want no violence.” Trump also argued there was nothing wrong with his speech at a rally outside the White House Jan. 6, when he urged his supporters to march on the Capitol as Congress was conducting the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes to formalize Biden’s victory.
“They’ve analyzed my speech and my words and my final paragraph, my final sentence and everybody just thought it was totally appropriate,” Trump falsely claimed.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, in a statement placed blame on Trump and said he will bear responsibility for further violence in Washington and at state Capitols if Trump does not explicitly and unambiguously address the nation and urge his supporters to refrain.