Cheney among GOP members poised to impeach
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump’s iron grip on his party showed further signs of weakening on Tuesday as at least three Republicans, including a member of the House leadership, said they would vote to impeach him after his supporters stormed the Capitol.
Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives, said: “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” as the Democratic- led chamber moved forward on a path to remove Trump from office.
Trump “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack” on the Capitol last Wednesday, Cheney, the daughter of former Republican vice president Dick Cheney, said in a statement, adding: “I will vote to impeach the president.”
Two other Republican House members, John Katko and Adam Kinzinger, said they would also vote for the historic second impeachment of the Republican president, who leaves office in just eight days.
Their announcements came as Republican leaders in the House of Representatives on Tuesday refrained from urging their members to vote against impeaching Trump, saying it was a matter of individual conscience.
The House plans to vote as soon as Wednesday on an article of impeachment charging Trump with inciting insurrection unless he resigns or Vice President Mike Pence moves to oust him under a provision in the U. S. Constitution.
The House was set to vote on Tuesday on a separate non- binding resolution that would call on Pence to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump, a procedure that has never been attempted in U.S. history.
The New York Times reported that the Republican majority leader of the U. S. Senate, Mitch Mcconnell, was said to be pleased about the impeachment push, believing it will make it easier to purge Trump from the party.
Making his first public appearance since last Wednesday’s riot, Trump defended remarks he made to supporters at a rally before they stormed Congress, and lambasted Democrats for pushing ahead with a drive to impeach him. “What I said was totally appropriate,” Trump told reporters as he left for a trip to the U.s.-mexico border wall near Alamo, Tex., his first public foray since the assault on the Capitol. “I want no violence.”
In a debate ahead of the House vote on the 25th Amendment resolution, Democrats pushed Republican lawmakers to disavow Trump’s false allegation that Democratic president- elect Joe Biden’s victory in the Nov. 3 election was illegitimate — the claim that enraged Trump’s supporters and prompted the violence that killed five including a police officer. Republicans refused to concede the point and said their unsuccessful effort last week to challenge the results of the election was justified.
The resolution calls on Pence to invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, which allows a majority of the cabinet to strip the president of power if he or she is deemed unable to discharge the office’s duties.
Pence advisers say he is opposed to the idea, and Trump told reporters in Texas he was not worried. “The 25th Amendment is of zero risk to me but will come back to haunt Joe Biden and the Biden administration,” Trump said without elaborating. “The impeachment hoax is a continuation of the greatest and most vicious witch hunt in the history of our country and is causing tremendous anger and division and pain, far greater than most people will ever understand, which is very dangerous for the U. S.A., especially at this very tender time,” Trump said.
With only eight days left in Trump’s term, chances the Democratic push will result in his removal before Biden takes office on Jan. 20 appear remote. If Trump is impeached, he would have a trial in the Senate. A twothirds majority of the Senate is needed to convict, meaning at least 17 Republicans in the 50-50 chamber would have to vote for conviction.