CT Dems: ‘A transcendent vote where all will be judged’
WASHINGTON — Rosa DeLauro has seen impeachments up close.
She was an ambitious young activist when President Richard Nixon resigned amid impeachment proceedings in 1974. She served in the U.S. House of Representatives during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998 and the 2019 impeachment of President Donald J. Trump.
But on Wednesday, as she helped make Trump the first president to be impeached twice, DeLauro, D-3, said the circumstances leading to this impeachment were unlike all the others.
“What I had not experienced,” DeLauro, 77, said in an interview just before casting her vote, “is an insurrection or an attempted coup or instigating mob violence to overthrow the government ... That is what is so extraordinary.”
Republicans, too, viewed the vote as extraordinary — as many rose to say the Democrat-led impeachment was a rush to judgment for no practical purpose other than political gain.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 232 to 197 to impeach Trump, with all Democrats, including Connecticut’s five House members, joined by 10 Republicans.
Exactly one week prior, DeLauro and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, were barricaded inside the House chamber, crouched on the floor behind seats, clutching gas masks, while rioters armed with clubs pounded on the doors for entry.
On Wednesday, they voted to charge Trump with “incitement of insurrection,” believing his rhetoric at a Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6 encouraged supporters to mob the Capitol and resulted in the death of five people.
“This impeachment will be viewed as a transcendent vote where all will be judged,” DeLauro told colleagues in a speech on the House floor.
They cast their votes in a Capitol changed by violence. Hundreds of National Guard members patrolled the grounds, large fences encircled the building and for the first time, lawmakers passed through a magnetometer to enter the chamber.
“I take no joy in casting a vote to condemn one of the darkest acts we have seen in American history,” Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5, said. “As I cast this vote today, I must now walk amongst thousands of troops deployed to defend our Capitol against insurrectionists.”
U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., both have said they will support convicting Trump of this charge during the Senate impeachment trial — which is expected to happen after the inauguration of Joe Biden as president.
While the historic House vote is unlikely to lead to an early removal for Trump, incensed Democrats aim to show the president’s actions are unacceptable. If they can convict him with 17 Republicans joining all 50 Democratic U.S. senators, they hope to bar him from holding office again.
Republicans have also condemned the violence and some blame Trump for it, but only a small number backed impeachment because many viewed the impeachment as too divisive for a nation convulsing with anger and misinformation. They also opposed the swift nature of the impeachment with little time for prior investigation or due process for the president. Trump’s first impeachment inquiry took three months.
“I don’t think Trump handled himself well that day. I wish that he heeded his words better but I also think if we are going to heal as a country, we have to stop,” said Connecticut Republican Chairman J.R. Romano on Monday.
Romano, who resigned abruptly Tuesday night, five months ahead of his planned exit, saying the party needed fresh leadership, said the parties should live up to the unity both side talk about.
“Joe Biden is going to be the president at the end of this month so the focus should be on how Republicans and Democrats come together without attacking each other,” Romano said.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2, said it would have been “best for the country” for Trump to resign.
“Absent that, the House still sought an alternate path by encouraging the Vice President to activate Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, and to remove the President without the Constitutional path of impeachment,” Courtney said. “Vice President [Mike] Pence refused, and the Congress has been left with no choice.”
Blumenthal said Tuesday he was making calls to some Republican senators about joining Democrats in convicting Trump, “none successful so far.” DeLauro said she’s made no such calls, believing it is a “vote of conscience” on which minds can’t be changed.
And Himes, causing a mild stir on the House floor, called on his Republican colleagues to think of their legacy and reconsider.
“My friends, which way is history flowing right now? Will Donald Trump join the pantheon of Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Regan? Or,” Himes asked, “will his 33 percent approval ratings and the condemnation of principled Republicans consign him to the heap of reviled demagogues with Joseph McCarthy and Andrew Johnson?”
Pointing both of his index fingers, Himes said, “Where he goes in history, you go in history. Unless, today, you make a stand.”
That led the representative in the speaker’s chair to issue a stern reminder for members to address their remarks to the chair, not to other members.
The impeachment puts a glaring spotlight on Trump as he exits office, shifting attention away the Biden agenda and possibly cutting into legislative time that could be spent confirming his cabinet and advancing his legislation.
“When we desperately need a national security team, a senior health team, where we ought to jump on the momentum to legislate on everything from good government to transportation infrastructure, my heart breaks to imagine that on Day One of the Biden administration the Senate might be consumed in an impeachment trial,” Himes said. “There’s 100 things about this situation that are just plain sad.”
But Connecticut Democrats insisted that the second impeachment was necessary — and greater than the symbolic stain of Trump’s place in American history.
“It’s not clear that we can have a peaceful transfer of power on January 20th if Trump is still in office,” Murphy said on Connecticut Public Radio Wednesday morning.
Himes said a Senate trial may bring additional evidence about Trump’s actions or the attack on the Capitol to light. He added that Department of Justice and other investigations could bring that evidence to light — and could result in criminal consequences for Trump.
Last week, U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1, watched from the window of his office as the crowds of protestors swarmed the building, overwhelmed the Capitol Police and made their way in.
“The President and the rioters must be held accountable,” he said Wednesday.
Hayes was in her office with her son when she heard the commotion outside and received alerts from Capitol Police to shelter-in-place, she told radio station WTIC-AM 1080.
Himes and DeLauro were among a few lawmakers who were on the House floor when rioters infiltrated the building. They were barricaded inside the chamber, ordered to grab gas masks and crouch on the floor between seats as people banged on the doors of the chamber and tried to force their way inside. Eventually, they and others were evacuated by Capitol Police and moved to a secure location.
On the other side of the Capitol, Murphy and Blumenthal were locked inside the Senate and held there until Capitol Police created a safe path out.
They all quickly joined a chorus of lawmakers calling for Trump’s removal.