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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would pass legislation to impeach President Donald Trump as she pushes the Vice President and Cabinet to invoke constitutional authority to force him out, warning Trump is a threat to democracy after the deadly attack on the Capitol.
House action could begin as early as Monday when pressure increases on Trump to step down. Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania joined Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in calling on Trump to “step down and leave as soon as possible.”
An astonishing end to Trump’s last 10 days in power was underway as lawmakers warned of the damage the president could still do ahead of Joe Biden’s January 20 inauguration. Trump, locked in the White House, was increasingly isolated after a mob riot on the Capitol in support of his false allegations of voter fraud.
Judges across the country, including some appointed by Trump, have repeatedly dismissed cases and Attorney General William Barr, a Trump ally, has said there is no sign of widespread fraud. Pelosi stressed the need for rapid action.
“We will act urgently because this president poses an imminent threat,” Pelosi said in a letter Sunday evening to his colleagues.
“The horror of the continued attack on our democracy perpetrated by this president intensifies, as does the need for immediate action.”
Monday vote
On Monday, Pelosi’s management team will look to vote on a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence and Cabinet officials to invoke the 25th Amendment, with a House plenary vote scheduled for Tuesday.
After that, Pence and the Cabinet would have 24 hours to act before the House proceeds with the impeachment.
In an interview on “60 Minutes” broadcast on Sunday, Pelosi invoked the Watergate era when Republicans in the Senate told President Richard Nixon, “It’s over.”
“This is what has to happen now,” she said.
With impeachment planning intensifying, Toomey said he doubts that impeachment can be done before Biden’s inauguration, although a growing number of lawmakers believe this step is necessary to ensure Trump cannot. never again hold elected office.
“You must leave”
“I think the president disqualified himself from never, certainly, serving again,” Toomey said. “I don’t think he’s eligible in any way.
Murkowski, long exasperated with the president, told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday that Trump “just needed to get out.” A third, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Didn’t go that far, but on Sunday he warned Trump to be “very careful” in his last days in office.
House Democrats were due to present articles of impeachment on Monday. The strategy would be to quickly condemn the president’s actions but delay a Senate impeachment trial by 100 days. This would allow President-elect Joe Biden to focus on other priorities from his inauguration on January 20.
Representative Jim Clyburn, the third-ranked House Democrat and one of Biden’s main allies, presented the ideas on Sunday as the country attacked the Capitol siege by Trump loyalists trying to overturn the results elections.
“Let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda going,” Clyburn said.
Corporate America began to show its reaction to the Capitol Riots by linking them to campaign contributions.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association CEO and chairman Kim Keck has said he will not contribute to lawmakers – all Republicans – who have supported challenges to Biden’s constituency victory. The group “will suspend contributions to lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy,” Kim said.
Citigroup did not single out lawmakers aligned with Trump’s efforts to call off the election, but said it would suspend all federal political donations for the first three months of the year. Citi’s head of global government affairs Candi Wolff said in a note to employees on Friday: “We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law.
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said an impeachment trial could not begin under the current schedule until inauguration day, Jan.20.
While many have criticized Trump, Republicans have said impeachment will be a divisive factor in times of unity.
Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Said that instead of coming together, Democrats want to “talk about ridiculous things like ‘impeach a president'” with just a few days in office.
Still, some Republicans might be in favor.
Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse said he would review all articles sent by the House. Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, a frequent critic of Trump, said he would “vote the right way” if the matter came to him.
The Democratic effort to estimate Trump’s presidential record – for the second time – with the indelible mark of impeachment had progressed rapidly since the riot.
Representative David Cicillin, DR.I, a leader in House efforts to draft impeachment articles accusing Trump of inciting an insurgency, said on Sunday his group had more than 200 co-sponsors.
The articles, if passed by the House, could then be sent to the Senate for trial, with senators acting as jurors to acquit or convict Trump. If found guilty, Trump would be removed from office and succeeded by the vice president. It would be the first time that a US president has been deposed twice.
What this meant for Biden and the start of his presidency potentially complicated Pelosi’s decision on impeachment. While reiterating that he has long viewed Trump as unfit for office, Biden avoided an impeachment question on Friday, saying what Congress did “it’s up to them to decide.”
A violent and largely white mob of Trump supporters overpowered police, broke through security lines and windows, and ransacked the Capitol on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to disperse as they finalized Biden’s victory over Trump in college electoral.
Toomey has appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” and NBC’s “Meet the Press”. Clyburn was on “Fox News Sunday” and CNN. Kinzinger was on ABC’s “This Week”, Blunt was on CBS’s “Face the Nation” and Rubio was on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures”.
More political cover of Fortune:
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- Pictures: A look at Wednesday’s national riots
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- The betting odds strongly favored the Georgia GOP candidates, then suddenly collapsed. What did not go well?
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