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“It is urgent – this is an emergency of the greatest magnitude,” the California Democrat told reporters on Thursday. “My phone exploded with ‘impeach, impeach, impeach’.”
Leading Democrats say there have not yet been serious discussions about impeaching Trump for the second time in his presidency, which has never been done before.
But President-elect Joe Biden has no desire to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump, people familiar with the matter said Thursday evening, as he prefers to remain focused on taking office in less than two weeks. “Impeachment would not help unify this country,” said a person close to Biden, who added that “it is a matter for Congress.” Sources told CNN earlier on Thursday that the president-elect had no intention of influencing the 25th Amendment talks.
If Pence and the Cabinet do not invoke the 25th Amendment, Democrats have discussed a process that would allow them to bypass committee deliberations and move articles of impeachment straight to the ground within two days.
Discussions are expected to intensify on Friday, when House Democrats stage their first call for a caucus since the attack on the U.S. Capitol as a growing number of MPs call for impeachment.
This call, scheduled for noon ET, will be an important moment in what will unfold over the next two weeks. While House Democrats after House Democrats have backed a second impeachment, the caucus itself has not met since the dramatic events. The call will be the first opportunity for lawmakers to speak to leaders about the impeachment issue, the 25th Amendment issue, and important security concerns related to the Capitol.
Indeed, given the tight deadline, it is not possible to launch a formal impeachment investigation as in 2019, a difficult undertaking that took several months.
But one option Democrats are exploring: proposing articles of impeachment through a privileged resolution. This would allow the chamber to proceed with a vote to impeach Trump within two days, skip the hearings, approve an organizational resolution, an investigation, and go straight to the vote.
Top Democrats in both chambers appear to be taking this approach.
“We don’t need a long debate,” Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said on Wednesday.
The first step is to draft the resolution, something several Democratic members are in the process of circulating.
The strongest one is written by Reps David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Ted Lieu of California – three members of the House Judiciary Committee. Others have offered options as well, including Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar.
But serious discussions on how to proceed have yet to take shape.
“There have been no discussions that I have participated in in relation to impeachment planning,” said Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and part of his leadership. left. Jeffries reiterated to CNN that the preferred route was for the Trump administration to invoke the 25th Amendment.
“The sooner the better,” Jeffries said of Trump’s resignation. “It is a heavy constitutional question to go down the road of impeachment, ultimately a form of trial, conviction or dismissal.
Any Member can propose a privileged resolution, but it must be when the House is sitting. It cannot be a short pro forma session when no legislative business is being conducted. Right now, the House is not expected to return until Jan.19, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland, has not ruled out returning the House to session next week.
Once the resolution is proposed, it would automatically be put to the vote within 48 hours. With majority support, the House would impeach Trump, sending him to the Senate for a trial over whether to remove him from office.
But with so little time in Trump’s presidency, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would essentially be able to run out of time and avoid a Senate impeachment trial in the few remaining days of Trump in office. , according to Hill sources.
McConnell declined to comment on the Kentucky Republican’s views on invoking the 25th Amendment.
Impeachment was not the preferred route back in the day, nor was it seen as a likely option for Democratic leaders. But the momentum of the members backing it creates momentum for something the leaders had not originally planned to pursue.
Given the tight schedule and volatile momentum, at this point nothing is certain and there is a feeling the dust needs to settle down a bit before any real action plan is presented.
It is possible that Congress will take steps to ensure that if Trump is impeached, the Senate could ensure that he can never be elected again. But it would still require the support of two-thirds of the Senate to make this happen.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
Jeff Zeleny contributed to this story.
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