Trump impeached
WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, President Donald J. Trump entered the history books by
becoming the first president in U.S. history to become impeached twice.
The House of Representatives met to vote on whether or not to impeach the President for “incitement of insurrection.”
The vote by the House of Representatives came exactly one week after a protest at the Capitol Building turned violent. At the time of the protest, the joint session of the Senate and the House was in the process of certifying the Electoral College votes.
Ten Republicans joined every Democrat in voting to impeach the President. The vote came to 232 yea, 197 nay, and 4 not voting. In order to pass, 217 votes were needed in favor of impeachment.
The articles of impeachment stated that the President “engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States.” The articles go on to say that on Jan. 6, pursuant to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the House of Representatives, and the Senate met at the United States Capitol for a Joint Session of Congress to count the votes of the Electoral College. Shortly before the joint session, the President addressed a crowd at the Ellipse in Washington, DC. At that crowd, he “reiterated false claims” that he won the election.
“He also willfully made statements that, in context, encouraged – and foreseeably resulted in – lawless action at the Capitol, such as: ‘if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore’. Thus incited by President Trump, members of the crowd he had addressed, in an attempt to, among other objectives, interfere with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential election, unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and Congressional personnel, and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts,” state the articles.
The articles of impeachment also lists the Jan. 2 phone call the President made to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where the President “urged” the secretary to find “enough votes to overturn the Georgia Presidential election results and threatened Secretary Raffensperger if he failed to do so.”
What comes next? After a U.S. President is impeached, the process then moves to the Senate for a trial. A vote of two-thirds in favor of at least one article is required to convict and remove a president from office.
In the history of the country, only three presidents have been impeached. Andrew Johnson, in 1868, and Bill Clinton, in 1999, were both impeached but were acquitted by the Senate. They served out the rest of their terms. Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives in 2019 and acquitted by the Senate in 2020. Wednesday’s vote now makes it four impeachments in the nation’s history. Richard Nixon resigned, 1974, halfway through his impeachment process.
Even though President Trump has been impeached, it most likely won’t result in removal from office. In a statement given by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell (R-KY), the process would take longer than the President has left in his term.
“Even if the Senate process were to begin this week and move promptly, no final verdict would be reached until after President Trump had left office,” stated Mcconnell. “In light of this reality I believe it will best serve our nation if Congress and the executive branch spend the next seven days completely focused on facilitating a safe inauguration and an orderly transfer of power to the incoming Biden administration.”
President-elect Joe Biden stated the following: “Today, in a bipartisan vote, the House voted to impeach and hold President Trump accountable. Now, the process continues to the Senateand I hope they’ll deal with their Constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation.”
U.S. Representative Jackie Walorski was one of the 197 to vote against impeachment. She issued the following: “In the wake of a divisive election and last week’s horrific attack on the U.S. Capitol, Congress should be entirely focused on uniting the American people and strengthening our country. Impeaching the president with less than a week left in his term will not advance either of these goals.
“President Trump has pledged an orderly transition to Presidentelect Biden’s administration, and I call on all Americans to support this effort by remaining peaceful and rejecting all violence. Anyone who commits violent or destructive acts will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
President Trump released a video on Twitter through the White House’s official account. While he didn’t address the result of the impeachment vote, he did condemn the violence that happened on Jan. 6. He also issued a statement that called for no further violence.
“In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind. That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers. Thank you,” Trump’s statement read.