United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democrats would move a resolution on Monday to remove President Donald Trump from office during the final days of his administration, for inciting a mob that violently attacked the Capitol last week, AFP reported.
In a letter to colleagues on Sunday, Pelosi said the House would move forward with a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, and wrest the powers of the presidency from Trump. If Pence does not agree to invoke the amendment, then “we will proceed with bringing impeachment legislation” in the House, Pelosi said.
She called on Pence to respond “within 24 hours,” according to The New York Times.
“In protecting our Constitution and our democracy, we will act with urgency, because this president represents an imminent threat to both,” Pelosi wrote. “As the days go by, the horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this president is intensified and so is the immediate need for action.”
Trump was already impeached once by the Democratic-controlled House in December 2019 for pressuring the Ukrainian president to dig up political dirt on Biden. He was acquitted by the Republican-majority Senate.
House whip James Clyburn said the Democrats could vote as soon as Tuesday on an article of impeachment charging Trump for “incitement of insurrection” over his role in the violent storming of the Capitol, according to BBC.
But the party may not send any articles to the Senate for trial until after Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office. “Let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running,” Clyburn said. “And maybe we will send the articles sometime after that.”
On January 7, hundreds of supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol complex in Washington DC, and clashed with the police as members of the Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential elections, which Joe Biden won. Five people died in the violence. At least 68 were arrested.
Videos on social media showed the mob shattering the Capitol’s windows and entering the building. One of the rioters even went and sat in the well of the Senate. Lawmakers put on gas masks and crouched under their desks as the police tried to secure the complex. The House was evacuated at first, but it reconvened hours later to certify Biden’s election victory.
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