PRESIDENT Donald Trump last night made history of the sort he did not want when he became the first president in American history to be impeached for a second time.
The House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for inciting insurrection following his actions and remarks leading up to the siege and invasion of the US Capitol by a mob of his supporters last Wednesday.
The final count was 232 to 197 in favour of impeachment.
The article of impeachment was immediately sent to the Senate, which is now required to hold a trial to determine whether Trump should remain in office, or, much more likely, be prevented from holding office in future. After a decision by the Republican majority leader Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate will stick to its original timetable of reconvening on Tuesday, which means that the trial and vote on impeachment will not take place until after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president of the USA next Wednesday, January 20.
Trump’s first impeachment ended with the Republican Party senators voting to keep him in office, but a growing number of Republicans had been stating that they would vote against Trump after last week’s attempted coup. They included Liz Cheney, the House Republican chair.
READ MORE: Will the US’s new normal mean returning to orchestrating coups on foreign soil?
The most likely impeachment option is to ban Trump from any future office, including the presidency, and some 17 Republican senators would be needed to join the 50 Democrat senators to achieve the required two-thirds majority.
Strong emotions were evinced in yesterday’s debate on impeachment in the House of Representatives. House majority leader Steny Hoyer said: “There are consequences to actions, and the actions of president of the United States demand urgent, clear action by the Congress of the United States.”
Representative Hakeem Jefferies, the Democrat caucus chair, said: “Donald Trump is a living, breathing impeachable offence.” Making his last speech, Representative Cedric Richmond of Lousiana said: “In the first impeachment, Republicans said, ‘we don’t need to impeach him because he learned his lesson’. We said if we didn’t remove him, he would do it again. Simply put, we told you so. Richmond out.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “The President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country. He must go.
“He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.”
Even his defenders criticised Trump. Representative Kevin McCarthy of California said he would not vote for impeachment but added: “The President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.”
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