The resolution was introduced Monday morning, as the House opened for legislative business, and is expected to be voted on later this week.
Republican critics have said impeachment could cause the president to double down on his violent rhetoric, orfurther stoke divisionin the country.
One of the authors of the article filed Monday defended thecase for impeachmentin aNew York Timeseditorial published Monday morning.
“This impeachment charge is meant to defend the integrity of the republic,” Rhode Island Democrat David Cicilline wrote. “Both Democratic and Republican members of Congress must attend to the duties of their oath. Failing to act would set an irresponsibly dangerous precedent for future presidents who are about to leave office.”
Cicilline continued: “Further, there can be no healing of the divisions in our country without justice for the man most responsible for this horrific insurrection. The president must be held accountable.”
In an interview with60 Minutesthat aired Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed Trump, 74, for his role in inciting the violence at the U.S. Capitol last week, which led to the deaths of at least five people.
“Sadly, the person who is running the Executive Branch is a deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States, and only a number of days until we can be protected from him,” Pelosi, 80, said. “But he has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him.”
On Sunday, Pelosi said the House would proceed with bringing its impeachment resolution to the floor this week unless Vice PresidentMike Pencewere to move toward invokingthe 25th Amendmentto remove Trump from office.
On Monday morning, House Democrats introduced a measure calling on Pence and the Cabinet to remove Trump under the 25th Amendment. That measure failed to receive unanimous consent and is expected to go to the House floor for a vote on Tuesday.
As the pro-Trump gathering began to turn violent last Wednesday, the president turned on his own VP for refusing to disrupt Congress' certification of an election that Trump lost.
In a tweet that has since been removed from Twitter (whichpermanently suspended Trumpfrom its platform over the weekend) Trump said Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify.”
Not only was Trump’s tweet full of inaccuracies (the election was not fraudulent and all of the Trump campaign’s attempts to show it was have failed), it directed ire toward one of Trump’s most loyal allies, who had to be evacuated to safety as the violent mob breached the Capitol.
The Trump supporters who descended on the Capitol could be heard chanting “Hang Mike Pence” in footage from the riots.
source: people.com
