House Democrats consider a possible vote on Trump’s second impeachment mid next week

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her management team considered their options on Thursday night and the overwhelming feeling was that impeachment was the way to go, according to multiple sources. While some dissidents feared the move could be seen as overbroad and deter Trump supporters in their districts, most top Democrats – including Pelosi – believe Trump should be held accountable for his actions. .

This process will be nothing like 2019. It would be quick: no inquiries and no multi-week hearings. The most likely scenario is for a Member to present a privileged resolution to the House and move it during the session.

This forces Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland, to bring members back, which people expect to be announced sometime after the 12 p.m. ET caucus call. Once they do, it kicks off the voting process in a few days. A simple majority is enough to remove the president. If they did, it would make Trump the first president to be impeached twice.

That would not mean he would be removed from office, which would force the Senate to vote to do so.

Trump's desperate attempt to save his imploding presidency

House Judiciary Committee aides consult with the authors of one of the Democratic impeachment resolutions – Reps David Cicillin, Jamie Raskin and Ted Lieu – to prepare for a swift move to a potential impeachment vote in the House this week next, according to three sources.

Assistants are helping edit and refine the impeachment resolution, the sources said, which includes an impeachment article for abuse of power, accusing Trump of inciting the insurgency on Capitol Hill. The impeachment resolution presented on Thursday also includes Trump’s appeal with Georgian Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, but some moderate members are insisting that the impeachment be as straightforward as possible in order to stay focused on Wednesday’s events.

What to watch

It goes fast. The members were not there two days ago. The events of Wednesday, the footage that was shown on TV screens, the tales of what happened throughout the Capitol complex and the President’s approach to it all before and after all have resulted in members feeling that something must happen now. Pelosi told his bailiff on Thursday, members texted him non-stop “impeachment, impeachment”.

Representative Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, Deputy Speaker of the House, told CNN’s John Berman on “New Day” on Friday that they could bring in articles of impeachment as early as “the middle of next week.” . She tweeted later that Democrats were “actively working” to find the fastest time frame for a vote.
Calls grow in Congress for Trump to be removed by impeachment or 25th Amendment
It’s not just Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Liberals calling for impeachment. There were notable comments Thursday from Representative Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan moderate who did not vote for Pelosi for the presidency less than a week ago, which pushed to invoke the 25th Amendment. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, of Virginia, also released a statement calling for the 25th Amendment, but then stating: “If the vice president does not act, it will become necessary for every member of Congress bound by our constitutional oaths to take others. If we refuse to respond to a US president inciting an uprising against our democracy, we risk losing it forever. ”

More than 60 Democrats, led by Representatives. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Tom Malinowski of New Jersey sent a letter to Democratic leaders on Friday asking them to meet and work to impeach Trump after the violation of the Capitol Wednesday.

“We are writing to respectfully request that the House meet immediately to take account of the assault on our democracy that we experienced on January 6,” the Democrats wrote. “We could address the question of whether President Trump should be censored or indicted for promoting a violent attack on the United States Congress, as well as Representative Raskin’s proposal that Congress appoint an organ,” as provided for by the 25th Amendment, to determine whether the President is fit to exercise the powers and duties of his office.

House Intelligence Speaker Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who led the House impeachment inquiry against Trump in 2019 for his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate President-elect Joe Biden at the start of the 2020 campaign, said in a statement Friday that he supported Trump’s impeachment. by the 25th Amendment or impeachment.

“Every day that he remains in office he represents a danger to the Republic, and he should leave office immediately, by resignation, the 25th Amendment or impeachment,” Schiff said.

What would happen in the Senate

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not spoken about this. But given that the House would likely pass the move within days of Trump’s presidency, McConnell would likely run out of time.

The GOP is frustrated, exasperated with Trump at this point. CNN reported that Minority House Leader Kevin McCarthy had a screaming match on Wednesday with Trump as rioters stormed the Capitol. But McConnell likes to avoid intra-party fighting and forcing members to vote on impeachment with only a few days left in Trump’s presidency wouldn’t be a good way to keep his members united.

Senator Ben Sasse, the Nebraska Republican who was one of the earliest critics of Trump’s voter fraud rhetoric, told CBS Morning News he would review all of the House impeachment articles.

“The House, if they come together and have a process, I will definitely consider any items they might come up with because, as I told you, I think the president ignored his oath.” Sasse said on Friday.

This story was updated with additional developments on Friday.

CNN’s Daniella Diaz, Rachel Janfaza and Phil Mattingly contributed to this report.



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