IMPEACHED AGAIN
House Democrats and 10 Republicans say Trump should be ousted for ‘incitement of insurrection’ but trial is likely to come after he leaves office
Donald Trump on Wednesday became the first American president to be impeached twice, as 10 members of his party joined with Democrats in the House to charge him with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in egging on a violent mob that stormed the Capitol last week.
Reconvening in a building now heavily militarized against threats from pro-Trump activists and adorned with bunting for the inauguration of Presidentelect Joe Biden, lawmakers voted 232-197 to approve a single impeachment article. It accused Trump of “inciting violence against the government of the United States,” in his quest to overturn the election results and called for him to be removed and disqualified from ever holding public office again.
The vote left another indelible stain on his presidency just a week before he is slated to leave office and laid bare the cracks running through the Republican Party. More members of his party voted to charge the president than in any other impeachment.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCalifornia, declaring the past week one of the darkest chapters in American history, implored colleagues to embrace “a constitutional remedy that will ensure that the republic will be safe from this man who is so resolutely determined to tear
down the things that we hold dear and that hold us together.”
A little more than a year after she led a painstaking, three-month process to impeach Trump the first time for a pressure campaign on Ukraine to incriminate Biden — a case rejected by the president’s unfailingly loyal Republican supporters — Pelosi had moved this time with little fanfare to do the same job in only seven days.
“He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love,” the speaker said, adding, “It gives me no pleasure to say this — it breaks my heart.”
The top House Republican, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, conceded in a pained speech on the floor that Trump had been to blame for the assault at the Capitol. It had forced the vice president and lawmakers who had gathered to formalize Biden’s victory to flee for their lives in a deadly rampage.
“The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” said McCarthy, one of the 138 Republicans who returned to the House floor after the mayhem and voted to reject certified electoral votes for Biden. “He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.”
Outside the House chamber, a remarkable tableau offered reminders of the rampage that gave rise to the impeachment, as thousands of armed, camouflage fatigue-clad members of the National Guard ringed the Capitol and lined its halls, their weapons, helmets and backpacks stacked seemingly in every corner of the complex. Their presence gave the proceedings a wartime feel and evoked images of the 1860s, when the Union Army had quartered in the building.
The House’s action set the stage for the second
Senate trial of the president in a year. The precise timing of that proceeding remained in doubt, though, as senators appeared unlikely to convene to sit in judgment before Jan. 20, when Biden will take the oath of office and Trump will become a former president.
The last proceeding was a partisan affair. But this time, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, was said to support the effort as a means of purging his party of Trump, setting up a political and constitutional showdown that could shape the course of American politics.
If a Senate trial resulted in Trump’s conviction, it held out the prospect, tantalizing for Democrats and many Republicans alike, of barring Trump from holding office again.
In a measured statement after the vote, Biden called for the nation to come together after an “unprecedented assault on our democracy.” He was staring down the likelihood that the trial would complicate his first days in office and said he hoped Senate leadership would “find a way to deal with their constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation.” That work included Cabinet nominations and confronting the coronavirus crisis.
In the House, Democrats and Republicans who supported his ouster made no attempt to hide their fury at Trump, who was said to have enjoyed watching the attack play out on television as lawmakers pleaded for help. Republicans harangued members of their own party for supporting his mendacious campaign to claim election victory.
Returning to the same chamber where many of them donned gas masks and hid under chairs amid gunfire one week ago, as rioters carrying zip ties and chanting “hang
Pence” and “where’s Nan
cy” overtook police, lawmakers issued stinging indictments of the president and his party.
“They may have been hunting for Pence and Pelosi to stage their coup,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, the lead impeachment prosecutor, “but every one of us in this room right now could have died.”
At least five people did die, including an officer and a member of the mob who was shot just outside the chamber door.
Lawmakers, on edge about the state of the country, said the threat from Trump had not subsided.
“He is capable of starting a civil war,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, a liberal veteran, said.
After four years of nearly unquestioning alliance with him, few Republicans defended Trump’s actions outright. Those who did resorted to a familiar set of false equivalencies, pointing to racial-justice protests that turned violent last summer and accusations that Democrats had mistreated the presi
dent and were trying to stifle the 74 million Americans who voted for him.
“It’s always been about getting the president, no matter what,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, shot across the room at Democrats. “It’s an obsession, an obsession that has now broadened. It’s not just about impeachment anymore; it’s about canceling, as I’ve said. Canceling the president and anyone that disagrees with them.”
Not long after the vote, Trump released a video condemning the violence and urging his followers to avoid a repeat in “the coming days both here in Washington and across the country” as federal authorities warned of a nationwide wave of violence surrounding Biden’s inauguration. But he did not mention his own role in instigating the violence or apologize, nor did he concede or mention Biden’s name.
The president recorded the video under pressure from aides, who have warned him that he faces potential legal exposure for the riot, which took
place after a speech in which he urged supporters to “fight” the results of the election.
It also came after McConnell had released a note to Republican senators in which he did not deny that he backed the impeachment push. The leader said that he had “not made a final decision on how I will vote.”
He also issued a separate statement in which he rejected a plea by Democrats to begin the proceeding immediately.
After the House vote, McConnell said there was “simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude” before the inauguration.
Privately, McConnell was seething at Trump, whom he has sworn he will not speak to again, and is said to believe he committed impeachable offenses. It would most likely take 17 Republicans joining Democrats to convict Trump, an exceedingly high bar.
McConnell’s anger was shared by some Republicans in the House, most prominently Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference and scion of a storied political family. Former Vice President Dick Cheney is her father.
The other Republicans who voted to impeach Trump were Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, David Valadao of California and Tom Rice of South Carolina. Together, they issued some of the sharpest condemnations of Trump, defying the prevailing view of their party.
“I’m not afraid of losing my job, but I am afraid my country will fail,” Herrera Beutler said. “I’m afraid patriots to this country have died in vain. I’m afraid my children won’t grow up in a free country. I’m afraid injustice will prevail.”
But there were strong signs of support for Trump as well. Far-right Republicans immediately started a campaign to oust Cheney from her leadership post, which she said she would not relinquish.
While Cheney had released a statement Tuesday announcing her intention to impeach Trump and denouncing him in scathing terms, she chose not to speak during the impeachment debate. Democrat after Democrat quoted her anyway — despite the party’s longstanding antipathy for Cheney and her father —effectively arguing that her backing signified a broad consensus that Trump must go.
“As Liz Cheney was saying, there has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution. Don’t dismiss that,” said Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, DMd., and the majority leader. “As she has taken a stand, I hope others will as well.”