President Trump Impeached Again
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) demanded Trump be immediately removed from office in a speech on Jan. 7. Photo courtesy of Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
The House of Representatives voted Monday to impeach President Trump, this time charging him with incitement of insurrection in part due to his discourse leading up to last week’s deadly riot at the Capitol.
The House voted 232-197 in favor of Trump’s impeachment.
In a historic first, President Trump became the first president to be impeached twice during their tenure.
Following the Jan. 6 riots in Washington, D.C., lawmakers had called on Vice President Mike Pence and the Trump administration’s cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare the president unfit for duty.
In a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Jan. 12, Pence declined to invoke this power, stating “the 25th Amendment is not a means of punishment,” adding that “invoking the 25th Amendment in such a manner would set a terrible precedent.”
Pence cited a previous statement made by Pelosi saying that the invoking of the 25th amendment should be a “medical decision.”
Lawmakers convened in the House Chambers early Wednesday morning to decide whether to reconsider the introduction of the articles of impeachment, but the congregation voted to continue onto the reading of the article.
Minnesota’s own Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) presided over the House floor during the debate over the impeachment article.
Two hours of prescribed debate were kicked off by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
“He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation we all love,” Pelosi said in her opening remarks. “It gives me no pleasure to say this — it breaks my heart.”
Pelosi went on to make clear her belief that those who stormed the Capitol were domestic terrorists incited through Trump’s repeated claims of widespread election fraud.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) followed. “There’s no way this will help,” he said. “We should be focused on bringing the nation together, but instead Democrats want to impeach the president a second time.”
He then listed accomplishments of the Trump administration, adding that Democrats have been on a mission for impeachment since the first 19 minutes of Trump’s presidency.
“The double standard has to stop,” Jordan said, citing Democrats’ objections to the 2016 election results.
Following Democrats overwhelmingly aligned with Pelosi’s opening theme, while Republicans mostly fell in line with Jordan’s message.
Rep. McClintock (R-CA), among many other Republicans, made the argument that the President has been given no due process in this impeachment hearing, claiming that the articles of impeachment were introduced without a thorough investigation.
Debate continued on, as each side alternated passionate explanations of their opinions, two minutes at a time.
After hours of feisty testimony, the House solidified the vote for impeachment.
It is unclear what direction the impeachment may head in terms of a potential Senate conviction.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has no plans to reconvene the Senate ahead of the original Jan. 19 meeting, according to The Hill.
Other possibilities remain for a Senate trial following the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, or even waiting until after the first 100 days of his presidency in order to avoid disrupting Biden’s implementation of key platform legislation.
It is unclear at this time how Democratic leadership plans to proceed.