Dems plan to vote to impeach Trump for 2nd time
Democrats in the House of Representatives said they plan to vote on impeaching President Donald Trump on Wednesday, charging that he incited a mob that attacked the Capitol last week.
"President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government," reads the four-page impeachment bill.
"The president’s threat to America is urgent, and so too will be our action," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday.
The Democrats are expected to have enough votes to impeach Trump for a second time, which requires only a simple majority. A two-thirds majority in the Senate would then be required to convict him.
Meanwhile, Trump declared an emergency late Monday in Washington and ordered federal assistance to supplement efforts to prepare for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan 20.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser over the weekend asked Trump to issue the declaration amid concerns about potential threats to the inauguration following the mob storming the Capitol in the deadly and violent attack on Jan 6.
Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf abruptly resigned Monday, nine days before the inauguration. He cited in a statement recent court challenges to the validity of his acting appointment.
Peter Gaynor, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will take over as acting DHS secretary, Wolf’s statement said.
The National Guard said it would increase its presence in the city by at least 10,000 before the inauguration, and the National Park Service shut down tours of the Washington Monument, citing potential threats to public safety.
The governors of Maryland and Virginia issued a joint statement with Washington’s mayor asking people to stay away from the inauguration.
Biden said Monday that he was "not afraid" of taking the oath of office outside — as is traditionally done at the Capitol’s west steps, one of the areas where people stormed the building.
As for the rioters, Biden said, "It is critically important that there’ll be a real serious focus on holding those folks who engaged in sedition and threatening the lives, defacing public property, caused great damage — that they be held accountable."
Democrats had pressured Vice-President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office, and Republicans blocked a separate move to formally call on Pence to strip Trump of power under the amendment.
The article of impeachment was introduced Monday morning. Only a handful of Republicans have supported removing Trump from office through impeachment or other means, though some have condemned Trump for encouraging supporters to march to the Capitol as a joint session of Congress was voting to ratify Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Former GOP speaker John Boehner said "it’s time" for Trump to resign. Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania joined Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska over the weekend in calling for Trump to "go away as soon as possible".
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said Monday that he opposed impeaching Trump, arguing that members of Congress should refrain from doing so for the sake of national unity.
"I continue to believe that an impeachment at this time would have the opposite effect of bringing our country together when we need to get America back on a path towards unity and civility," McCarthy said in a letter to House Republicans, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.
He didn’t mention Trump by name in the letter. McCarthy suggested four other options: a censure resolution, although he didn’t make clear whether Trump, the rioters or someone else might be the subject of such a measure; a bipartisan commission to investigate the attack on the Capitol; a push to reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which prevents a vice-president from arbitrarily deciding to reject state votes; and unspecified legislation to "promote voter confidence in future federal elections".
On a call with House Democrats on Monday, Pelosi said that a censure resolution "would be an abdication of our responsibility", according to a person with knowledge of the call, the Post reported.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said there won’t be enough time for a trial and vote before Inauguration Day, with the Senate not set to return until Jan 19.
Incoming Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York is exploring using a little-used emergency tool to call the Senate back sooner if needed, a Senate Democratic aide said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
McConnell would need to agree, and a spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Journal.
The Senate can hold a trial for Trump even after his presidency ends, which some lawmakers see as potentially banning Trump from holding office again.
With Twitter banning his account on Friday, Trump hasn’t issued any comments or appeared in public since releasing a statement criticizing Twitter for the banning.
"It’s clear he’s angry," said Trump campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley on Fox News. "Democrats came after him with a purely political impeachment not too long ago. Now they’re threatening to do it again," he said. "The president talked about a peaceful transition. He’s going to leave office and that’s what he’s going to do."
On Monday, Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, to Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of his top allies on Capitol Hill, in a closed-door event.
On Tuesday, in a visit intended to highlight his border-security policy, Trump plans to visit Alamo, Texas, to visit a section of the US-Mexico border wall.
Trump had planned on Thursday to award New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick the Medal of Freedom, but the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach issued a statement late Monday saying he would not accept the award, citing "the tragic events of last week".
"Above all, I am an American citizen with great reverence for our nation’s values, freedom and democracy," Belichick said in a statement given to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
