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While impeachment won’t force Trump out of office: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said Trump won’t face trial until after President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in next week, the vote it was a visceral response from legislators from both parties. furious at Trump after a deadly pro-Trump mob invaded Capitol Police, looted the United States Capitol and endangered the lives of Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers last week.
“We know that the President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion against our common country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in the plenary session of the House before the vote. “He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation we all love.”
“There has never been a greater betrayal by an incumbent president of the United States and his oath to the Constitution,” Cheney said.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that Trump “is responsible for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” and urged the president to accept his share of responsibility and ” quell the unrest that is brewing. ” McCarthy, however, argued that the House should create a bipartisan commission rather than impeachment.
“I think impeaching the president in such a short time would be a mistake,” McCarthy said. “No investigations have been completed. No hearings have been held.”
The split within the Republican Party stands in stark contrast to Trump’s impeachment of House Democrats in 2019, when House Republicans rallied in opposition. Republicans, in addition to Cheney, who voted to impeach Trump on Wednesday were Representatives John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Tom Rice from South Carolina. , Anthony González from Ohio and David Valadao from California.
Rice, a Republican from a conservative district who was not expected to vote for impeachment, said in a statement after the vote that it was the president’s response to the riot that led him across the aisle.
“The president has not addressed the nation for calm. He has not visited the wounded and grieving. He has not offered condolences. At a press conference at the border yesterday, he said his comments were ‘perfectly appropriate,'” Rice said. . .
“I have supported this president through thick and thin for four years. I campaigned for him and voted for him twice. But this total failure is unforgivable,” added the South Carolina Republican.
In the Senate, McConnell does not plan to bring the Senate back for a trial before January 19, which means that the trial will not begin until Trump is out of office and Biden has been sworn in.
In a note to his Republican colleagues Wednesday afternoon, McConnell wrote: “I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to hear the legal arguments when they come before the Senate.”
McConnell has indicated that he believes impeaching Trump will make it easier to get rid of the president and GOP Trumpism, sources said Tuesday. McConnell faces a delicate balance: Several of his Republican colleagues have made it clear that they oppose impeachment, and the Kentucky Republican hates anything that divides his conference, according to a source familiar with the matter.
But the source says McConnell is also well aware of the moment in history and the moment for the Republican Party. McConnell’s turn against Trump has been apparent to those watching closely. He cut off contact with Trump weeks ago and made it clear that he has no plans to speak to him again.
For House Democrats, the disagreements that divided their group over impeachment in 2019 simply never materialized. Democrats quickly rallied around the use of the impeachment in the final days of Trump’s presidency to serve as an appropriate response to the president’s conduct and as a way to push for his impeachment before the end of his term, although that scenario seems unlikely.
Pelosi has sidelined Republican efforts to take different action, such as censorship, in response to Trump’s role in the riots. She appointed impeachment managers Tuesday night, a team of nine Democrats to be led by Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, ahead of a likely trial shortly after Biden is sworn in. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday night that the House would send the articles to the Senate immediately.
Democrats only grew more determined in their push to impeach Trump over the riots as more information emerged about the attack on the Capitol, including violent images of Capitol police officers attacked and the death of a Capitol police officer. Wednesday’s vote came as thousands of National Guard troops were present in every corner of the Capitol complex before next week’s inauguration, and slept on the floors of the Capitol building the night before the impeachment vote.
Trump has shown no regret for his role in last week’s Capitol riots, criticizing impeachment on Tuesday in his first public comments since the incident. A source close to the president said he is not considering resigning.
“It’s been scrutinized,” Trump said of his comments last week to the crowd ahead of the riots. “People thought what I said was totally appropriate.”
How could the trial look
Wednesday’s impeachment vote will complicate the early days of the Biden administration, both in its efforts to reach out to Republicans and because the Senate is likely to be committed to a fair trial when Biden takes office.
In a statement Wednesday night, the president-elect noted that “it was a bipartisan vote cast by members who followed the Constitution and their conscience,” before moving on to the pandemic.
“This nation also remains in the grip of a deadly virus and a reeling economy,” Biden said. “I hope the Senate leadership will find a way to deal with its constitutional responsibilities in impeachment while also working on other pressing issues of this nation.”
Biden is still awaiting news on whether the Senate will be able to hold an impeachment in conjunction with cabinet confirmation hearings and Covid-19 relief legislation. Advisers say that Biden and his team are working behind the scenes with Senate Democrats, and House impeachment managers, to keep impeachment as fast as possible, though the length remains an open question.
Both Biden and Schumer have argued that the Senate will try to split their days, so the Senate can confirm Biden’s nominees and consider Covid-19 stimulus legislation while also conducting impeachment.
House impeachment managers are just beginning to craft their strategy for the case they plan to bring and are cautious about stepping into the early days of Biden’s presidency.
Several managers told CNN that no decisions have been made on a key issue: whether to seek witnesses and attempt to subpoena documents for the trial, which could prolong it.
But McConnell, indicating that he is in no rush to bring the Senate back to session early, House managers have more time to begin their strategy sessions.
Raskin told CNN that they are still evaluating whether to seek witnesses.
When asked if Raffensperger would be called as a witness, Representative Madeleine Dean, one of the nine impeachment managers, said she did not “want to see a preview” of the case and that organizational meetings were just beginning.
Democrats, however, appear wary of starting the trial on the same day that Biden takes office.
“Of course not,” Dean said when asked if it would be a good idea to start on January 20. “The president and vice president deserve (their day) … We have to restore a peaceful transfer of power that Donald Trump deliberately incited people against.”
This story has been updated with additional news on Wednesday.
CNN’s Daniella Diaz, Kristin Wilson, Donald Judd, Sarah Fortinsky, Pamela Brown, Jim Acosta, Jeff Zeleny, and Sarah Mucha contributed to this report.
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