The House will push ahead Tuesday with efforts to remove President Donald Trump from office for inciting last week’s deadly attack on the Capitol.
The Democratic-held chamber will vote Tuesday night on a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to push Trump out of the White House. On Wednesday, the House plans to decide whether to make Trump the first president ever impeached twice.
The chamber is expected to pass the 25th Amendment measure, which does not compel Pence and Cabinet secretaries to take action. The vice president has so far resisted calls to remove Trump from office.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., tried to pass the resolution by unanimous consent on Monday. Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., blocked it.
The Democrats, who on Monday introduced an article of impeachment against Trump, say they have enough votes to charge the president with high crimes and misdemeanors. It is unclear how many Republicans will join the party in voting to impeach Trump.
The insurrection at the legislature, which left five people including a Capitol police officer dead, sparked a rush to hold Trump accountable with only a few days remaining in his term. Supporters of his removal say leaving the president in office even until President-elect Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration poses too much risk.
Some members of both parties have said they prefer censuring the president, in part because the Senate may not have enough time to remove Trump even if the House sends articles across the Capitol as soon as possible. But those who back impeachment argue a symbolic vote will not hold Trump to account for his role in the riot that threatened lawmakers’ lives and disrupted their count of Biden’s election victory — a formal step in the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump spoke publicly Tuesday for the first time since the attack on the Capitol. He did not take any responsibility for the mob violence and warned a second impeachment could be dangerous for the country.
Democrats introduced competing versions of impeachment articles on Monday. The one leaders appear most likely to latch onto, titled “Incitement of Insurrection,” came from Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif.
In the article, the lawmakers charge Trump with sparking an attack on a coequal branch of government and disturbing the peaceful transfer of power. They cite not only his calls for supporters to fight the election results at a rally shortly before the attack on the Capitol, but also his two months of lies that widespread fraud cost him a second term in office.
The impeachment article points to Trump’s call pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in the state. Certain Senate Republicans have pushed for the House to base the articles only around Wednesday’s attack to make it harder for lawmakers to take issue with impeachment, NBC News reported Monday.
Some Democrats have also questioned whether the House should send articles to the Senate immediately after it impeaches Trump. Holding a trial in the Senate soon could hamstring Biden’s early agenda, including confirmation of Cabinet officials and passage of a coronavirus relief package.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has indicated the chamber may not receive articles until a week from Tuesday at the earliest. The Senate has to start a trial shortly after the House transmits articles.
“If he won’t resign and Vice President Pence and the Cabinet won’t invoke the 25th Amendment, he will be impeached by the House. And as law requires, tried by the Senate,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, told reporters in New York on Tuesday. He will become majority leader when Senators-elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff from Georgia are sworn in later this month.
Schumer contended that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could call back the Senate for a swift trial using emergency powers.
Hoyer signaled Monday that he wants to send impeachment measures to the Senate immediately after the House acts. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., did not answer Tuesday when asked when the House would transmit articles to the Senate.
“That is not something I will be discussing right now as you can imagine. Take it one step at a time,” she told reporters at the Capitol.
Biden on Monday floated the possibility of the Senate spending half of its day on impeachment and the remainder filling out the executive branch.
