The House reached the majority vote needed to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting an “insurrection” in last week’s attack on the Capitol, a stinging rebuke of the nation’s 45th president as he prepares to depart the White House after four tumultuous years.
Ten Republicans broke from their party – and their president – to join Democrats in approving the single article of impeachment.
Trump will leave power as the first president in the nation’s 245-year history to be impeached twice.
The vote to impeach Trump was 232 to 197.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will decide when to transmit the article to the Senate, which must either dismiss the charge or hold a trial.
At least 67 of the 100 senators are needed for conviction which would require Trump’s removal from office.
The House first impeached Trump in December 2019 for his efforts to pressure the president of Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden but the Senate declined to convict him.
This time could be different following an unprecedented and violent assault on Congress’ home that left five people dead – including a U.S. Capitol police officer – and a nation shaken by an attack that struck at what President-elect Biden, a former senator, calls the “citadel “of democracy.
The impeachment of a president, usually a drawn-out process involving weeks of hearings and witnesses, took only a matter of days. But Democrats said steps had be taken to punish the president that would also prevent him from holding federal office again.
“America was attacked, and we must respond even when the cause of this violence resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said on the House floor before voting for impeachment. “Every moment that Donald Trump is in the White House, our nation, our freedom, is in danger.”
Though a few Republicans – including GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming – voted for impeachment, most Republicans opposed the move.
They said it denied the president due process by fast-tracking the process and would only further divide a nation torn apart by political acrimony.
GOP Rep. Tom Cole called it an attempt by Democrats to “settle old scores.”
▪︎10 House Republicans vote to impeach
Ten House Republicans joined Democrats in the historic vote Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump for the second time, charging him with inciting insurrection in the Capitol riot.
The Republican support was unprecedented for lawmakers voting to impeach a president of the same party, doubling the five Democratic votes against President Bill Clinton in 1998.
The Republican votes marked a contrast to Trump’s first impeachment in December 2019, when Republicans remained united in opposition. But Republican leaders didn’t lobby members on how to vote this time.
The renegade Republicans included the third-ranking party leader, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, and nine others:
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington
Rep. Anthony Gonzales of Ohio
Rep. John Katko of New York
Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois
Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan
Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington
Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina
Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan
Rep. David Valadao of California
Cheney said in a statement Tuesday that the insurrection caused injury, death and destruction.
“The president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of the attack,” Cheney said. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
Only two Republicans supporting spoke on the floor during the two-hour debate.
Newhouse said Trump had no excuse for inciting the mob.
“Last week there was a domestic threat at the door of the Capitol and he did nothing to stop it,” Newhouse said. “That is why with a heavy heart and clear resolve, I will vote yes on these articles of impeachment,” he said to applause from the Democratic side of the House.
Beutler issued a statement saying Trump incited the riot and then spent hours without taking meaningful action to halt it. She said on the floor that she wasn’t afraid of losing her job, but she was afraid that her country will fail.
“My vote to impeach our sitting president is not a fear-based decision,” she said. “I am not choosing a side. I’m choosing truth. It’s the only way to defeat fear.”
Katko, Kinzinger and Upton each issued statements on Tuesday. Meijer issued a statement Wednesday saying he voted yes with a heavy heart.
“President Trump betrayed his oath of office by seeking to undermine our constitutional process, and he bears responsibility for inciting the insurrection we suffered last week,” Meijer said. (USATODAY)
