US House impeaches Trump for second time
Outgoing president makes history, calls it the ‘greatest witch hunt’ in politics
A majority of lawmakers in the US House of Representatives on Jan 13 voted for impeaching President Donald Trump over “incitement of insurrection,” making him the first president in US history to be impeached twice. But this also leaves a scar on the United States’ bi-party politics.
The vote of 232 to 197 came a week after a pro-Trump mob rampaged through the Capitol. Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer.
The House impeached Trump in December 2019 on two articles of impeachment, charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate voted to acquit Trump on Feb 5 last year.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected Democratic calls to reconvene the chamber for an immediate trial of Trump, ensuring he would not be ousted before his term ends on Jan 20 with the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
McConnell did not rule out voting to convict Trump in the event of a trial. In a note to his fellow Republican senators just before the House was to begin voting, he said he was undecided.
Though McConnell has declined to hasten an impeachment trial, a
Republican strategist told The Associated Press he believes Trump committed impeachable offenses and considers the Democrats’ impeachment drive an opportunity to reduce the
president’s hold on the GOP.
While Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 brought no Republican votes in the House, 10 House Republicans broke with the party to join Democrats
this time, saying Trump violated his oath to protect and defend US democracy.
On Jan 13, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said for the first time that Trump does bear responsibility for the riot at the Capitol, acknowledging on the House floor before the vote that Biden is the next president and that radical liberal groups were not responsible for the riots, as some conservatives claimed.
Still, McCarthy said he opposed impeachment, instead favoring a “fact-finding commission” and censure.
Trump said the impeachment effort is a “continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics” and that it was “causing tremendous anger”. He made the remarks to reporters on Jan 12 before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for a trip to the US-Mexico border wall near Alamo, Texas.
In Alamo, Trump dismissed Democrats’ calls for Vice-President Mike Pence and Trump’s Cabinet to declare him unfit for office and remove him from power using the 25th Amendment of the Constitution.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Trump said. “It’s really a terrible thing that they’re doing.”
Asked by reporters whether he held any “personal responsibility “for the riot at the Capitol, Trump said that “people thought that what I said was totally appropriate”.