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When lawmakers opened their session on Wednesday, Washington was under siege, with armed national guards deployed, central streets closed to cars and fenced off public spaces.
FILE: President of the United States, Donald Trump. Image: AFP
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives was poised to impeach President Donald Trump of inciting insurrection on Wednesday, and several key Republicans backed the Democratic-led push to oust the burning real estate mogul just a week before he leaves office.
When lawmakers opened their session, Washington was under siege, with armed national guards deployed, central streets closed to cars and fenced off public spaces.
Guards in full camouflage and assault rifles gathered at the Capitol Building, some of them napping early Wednesday under the ornate historical statues and paintings.
The expected vote, seven days before Democrat Joe Biden’s inauguration, would make Trump the first US president to be indicted twice.
Trump’s epic downfall was sparked by his Jan.6 speech to a crowd on the National Mall, telling them that Biden had stolen the election and that they had to march on Congress and show “strength.”
Amplified by weeks of Trump-fueled conspiracy theories, the mob stormed the Capitol, fatally wounded a police officer, smashed furniture and forced terrified lawmakers into hiding, disrupting a ceremony to put the legal seal on Biden’s victory. .
One protester was shot and killed and three other people died from “medical emergencies”, bringing the death toll to five.
In Wednesday’s opening debates, Democratic lawmaker Ilhan Omar called Trump a “tyrant.”
“The president not only incited an insurrection against our government, but in word and in fact led a rebellion,” he told the chamber. “For us to survive as a functioning democracy, there has to be responsibility.”
But Nancy Mace, a recently elected Republican congresswoman, said that while lawmakers “must hold the president accountable” for the violence, the speed of the process “raises big questions about constitutionality.”
SUPPORTING TRUMP CRUMBLING
Trump remains defiant, refusing to accept responsibility for his campaign to undermine Americans’ belief in the electoral system and his latest fierce speech on the Mall.
But his seemingly unshakable grip on Republicans is eroding as leaders run out of patience and look toward a rebuilding of their party after Trump.
Vice President Mike Pence tossed Trump a lifeline Tuesday, saying he would not invoke the 25th Amendment that allows him and the Cabinet to strip a sitting president of their powers.
However, impeachment on the sole charge of “incitement to insurrection” will almost certainly pass. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has scheduled a vote around 3:00 pm (2000 GMT).
Trump, who has been stripped of his social media megaphones by Twitter and Facebook, and finds himself increasingly ostracized in the corporate world, is fighting to impose his message, much less any kind of resistance.
On a quick trip to Texas on Tuesday, he visited the U.S.-Mexico border wall, which he considers one of his greatest achievements. But the short low-energy speech he delivered there did nothing to regain his rapidly creeping momentum.
His insistence that his infamous speech to the crowd on January 6 had been “totally appropriate” and that he had no blame for the attack on the Capitol angered allies and opponents alike.
REPUBLICAN CRACKS
While the House impeachment is almost certain, it seemed highly unlikely that the Republican-controlled Senate would go ahead with a trial.
Senate Leader Mitch McConnell made it clear that there was no time before the January 20 presidency change because the Senate is in recess until January 19.
Scheduling issues aside, there has been no appetite among Republicans, who acquitted Trump in his first impeachment a year ago, to strip him of office just days before he leaves anyway.
However, according to The New York Times, McConnell privately noted Tuesday that he believes Trump committed impeachment offenses and welcomes the impeachment.
If confirmed, this would be a potentially fatal change on the ground under Trump’s feet. McConnell could theoretically call the Senate for an emergency session or encourage his senators to join with Democrats in condemning Trump even after Biden takes office.
In the House, Republican number three, Liz Cheney, said she would vote in favor of the impeachment and called Trump’s actions “a betrayal” of his office.
This came after the top House Republican, Kevin McCarthy, said that members would not be required to follow the party line in voting, a significant weakening of support for Trump.
Four other Republicans in the House of Representatives have also publicly stated that they will vote for impeachment.
Trump’s increasingly toothless social media woes deepened Tuesday night when video-sharing giant YouTube said it would suspend its official account for at least a week, fearing its videos could incite the violence.
He is also being ostracized by the business world, threatening his future once he leaves the White House.
The latest blow to the Trump empire came when the mayor of his native New York, Bill de Blasio, announced Wednesday the termination of contracts to manage a golf course, two ice skating rinks and a carousel in Central Park.
“New York City does not do business with insurgents,” tweeted De Blasio, a Democrat.
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