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U.S.
House
poised
to
impeach
Trump
for his
role in
Capitol
assault
David
Morgan,
James
Oliphant
reuters.com
WASHINGTON
- A week
after
President
Donald
Trump’s
supporters
stormed
the U.S.
Capitol,
the U.S.
House of
Representatives
will
vote on
Wednesday
to
impeach
the
president
for his
role in
an
assault
on
American
democracy
that
stunned
the
nation
and left
five
dead.
At
least
five
Republicans
have
said
they
would
join
Democrats
to
impeach
Trump
for the
second
time,
just
seven
days
before
he is
due to
leave
office
and
President-elect
Joe
Biden is
sworn in
on Jan.
20.
A
vote of
the
House
majority
to
impeach
would
trigger
a trial
in the
still
Republican-controlled
Senate,
although
it was
unclear
whether
such a
trial
would
take
place in
time to
expel
Trump
from the
White
House.
Democrats
moved
forward
on an
impeachment
vote
after
Vice
President
Mike
Pence
rejected
an
effort
to
persuade
him to
invoke
the 25th
Amendment
of the
U.S.
Constitution
to
remove
Trump.
“I
do not
believe
that
such a
course
of
action
is in
the best
interest
of our
Nation
or
consistent
with our
Constitution,”
Pence
said in
a letter
Tuesday
evening
to House
Speaker
Nancy
Pelosi.
Despite
the
letter,
the
House
passed a
resolution
late
Tuesday
formally
calling
on Pence
to act.
The
final
vote was
223-205
in
favor.
As
the
House
prepared
for the
impeachment
vote on
Wednesday,
there
were
signs
that
Trump’s
once-dominant
hold on
the
Republican
Party
was
beginning
to ebb.
At
least
five
House
Republicans,
including
Liz
Cheney,
a member
of her
party’s
leadership
team,
said
they
would
vote for
his
second
impeachment
- a
prospect
no
president
before
Trump
has
faced.
“There
has
never
been a
greater
betrayal
by a
President
of the
United
States
of his
office
and his
oath to
the
Constitution,”
Cheney,
the
daughter
of
former
Vice
President
Dick
Cheney,
said in
a
statement.
Trump
“summoned
this
mob,
assembled
the mob,
and lit
the
flame of
this
attack”
on the
Capitol,
she
said.
Four
other
Republican
House
members,
Jaime
Herrera
Beutler,
John
Katko,
Adam
Kinzinger
and Fred
Upton,
also
said
they
supported
impeachment.
In a
break
from
standard
procedure,
Republican
leaders
in the
House
have
refrained
from
urging
their
members
to vote
against
impeaching
Trump,
saying
it was a
matter
of
individual
conscience.
The
New York
Times
reported
that the
Republican
majority
leader
of the
U.S.
Senate,
Mitch
McConnell,
was said
to be
pleased
about
the
impeachment
push,
another
sign
that
Trump’s
party is
looking
to move
on from
him
after
the
attack
on
Congress.
‘TOTALLY
APPROPRIATE’
In
his
first
public
appearance
since
last
Wednesday’s
riot,
Trump
showed
no
contrition
on
Tuesday
for his
speech
last
week in
which he
called
on his
supporters
to
protest
Biden’s
victory
by
marching
on the
Capitol.
“What I
said was
totally
appropriate,”
Trump
told
reporters.
At a
meeting
to set
the
rules
for
Wednesday’s
impeachment
vote,
Democratic
Representative
David
Cicilline
told the
House
Rules
Committee
that the
impeachment
drive
had the
support
of 217
lawmakers
- enough
to
impeach
Trump.
Cicilline,
who
helped
craft
the
impeachment
measure,
said
Trump
“has had
almost a
week to
do the
right
thing.
He has
refused
to
resign,
he has
failed
to take
responsibility,
he has
demonstrated
no
remorse.”
House
Republicans
who
opposed
the
impeachment
drive
argued
Democrats
were
going
too far,
as Trump
was on
the
verge of
leaving
office.
“This is
scary
where
this
goes,
because
this is
about
more
than
about
impeaching
the
president
of the
United
States.
This is
about
cancelling
the
president
and
cancelling
all the
people
you guys
disagree
with,”
said
Republican
Representative
Jim
Jordan,
a
leading
Trump
ally
when the
president
was
impeached
in 2019
after
encouraging
the
government
of
Ukraine
to dig
up
political
dirt on
Biden.
Pelosi
on
Tuesday
named
nine
impeachment
managers,
who
would
present
the
House’s
case for
impeachment
during a
Senate
trial.
It
remained
unclear
how
swiftly
such a
trial
would
take
place.
McConnell
has said
no trial
could
begin
until
the
chamber
returns
from its
recess
on Jan.
19.
But
Democratic
Minority
Leader
Chuck
Schumer,
who is
set to
become
the
majority
leader
after
two
Democrats
from
Georgia
are
seated
and Vice
President-elect
Kamala
Harris
is sworn
in, told
reporters
the
Senate
could be
recalled
to
handle
the
matter.
If
Trump is
impeached
by the
House,
he would
have a
trial in
the
Senate
to
determine
his
guilt. A
two-thirds
majority
of the
Senate
is
needed
to
convict
him,
meaning
at least
17
Republicans
in the
100-member
chamber
would
have to
vote for
conviction.
Democrats
could
also use
an
impeachment
trial to
push
through
a vote
blocking
Trump
from
running
for
office
again.
Rather
than a
two-thirds
vote, a
simple
Senate
majority
is
needed
to
disqualify
Trump
from
future
office.
There is
disagreement
among
legal
experts
as to
whether
a
conviction
on an
impeachment
charge
would be
needed
before a
disqualification
vote. A
different
part of
the
Constitution,
the 14th
Amendment,
also
provides
a
procedure
for
disqualifying
Trump
from
future
office
with a
simple
majority
of both
chambers.
Reporting
by James
Oliphant,
David
Morgan
and
Susan
Cornwell;
Editing
by
Colleen
Jenkins
and
Gerry
Doyle

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