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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s tight grip on his party showed further signs of weakening on Tuesday (January 12) when at least three Republicans, including a member of the House leadership, said they would vote to impeach him after his supporters stormed. in the Capitol.
Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives, said: “There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States in office and his oath to the Constitution,” while the House led by Democrats a path was advancing to remove Trump from office.
Trump “summoned this mob, rallied the mob and lit the flame of this attack” on Capitol Hill last Wednesday, Cheney, the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, said in a statement, adding: “I will vote to impeach the President.”
Two other Republican House members, John Katko and Adam Kinzinger, said they would also vote for the historic second impeachment trial of the Republican president, who leaves office in just eight days.
READ: Defiant Trump applauds as allies in Congress plan to challenge his election
Their announcements came as Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives abstained Tuesday from urging their members to vote against impeachment of Trump, saying it was a matter of individual conscience after his supporters looted the Capitol.
The House plans to vote Wednesday on an article of impeachment accusing Trump of inciting insurrection unless he resigns or Vice President Mike Pence moves to overthrow him under a provision of the United States Constitution.
The House was scheduled to vote Tuesday on a separate, non-binding resolution that would ask Pence to use the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to impeach Trump, a procedure that has never been attempted in U.S. history.
The New York Times reported that US Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was said to be pleased with the momentum of the Democratic impeachment, suggesting that Trump’s party was looking to leave him after the surprising attack on Congress last week.
McConnell believes the impeachment effort will facilitate Trump’s purge of the party, the Times said.
Making his first public appearance since last Wednesday’s riot, Trump showed no regret for comments he made to supporters at a rally before they stormed the headquarters of Congress and also lashed out at Democrats for going ahead with a push to accuse him for an unprecedented second time.
READ: The 25th Amendment provides for the transfer of power of the President of the USA.
“What I said was totally appropriate,” Trump told reporters as he made his way to the US-Mexico border wall near Alamo, Texas, his first public foray since the assault on the Capitol. “I don’t want violence.”
PARTY STRUGGLE
In a debate before the House vote on the 25th Amendment resolution, Democrats lobbied Republican lawmakers to disavow Trump’s false accusation that Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the November 3 election It was illegitimate, a claim that angered Trump supporters and sparked violence in Washington that killed five, including a police officer.
Republicans refused to admit the point, saying their failed effort last week to challenge the election results was justified.
The resolution calls on Pence to invoke Section 4 of Amendment 25, a never-before-used power that allows the Cabinet majority to strip the president of power if he is deemed unable to fulfill his duties.
Pence’s advisers say he opposes the idea, and Trump told reporters in Texas he was not concerned about the prospect.
With just eight days remaining in Trump’s term, the chances that the Democratic push will result in his impeachment before Biden takes office on January 20 seem remote. But Democrats say Trump’s actions demand a response.
READ: New videos reveal the violence of the assault on the US Congress.
“Our nation, our democracy and our freedom cannot risk another day of Trump’s presidency,” said Representative Jim McGovern, chairman of the House Rules Committee.
Democrats could also use impeachment to push for a vote preventing Trump from running again for office.
If Trump is indicted by the House, he would have a trial in the Senate to determine his guilt. A two-thirds majority of the Senate is needed to convict him, which means that at least 17 Republicans in the 50-50 House would have to vote in favor of the conviction.
But it only takes a simple majority to disqualify Trump from future office. There is disagreement among legal experts about whether the conviction is necessary for disqualification. A different part of the Constitution, the 14th Amendment, also provides a procedure to disqualify Trump from future office with a simple majority of both houses.
Trump has said he plans to run again in 2024.
In a Rules Committee session that set the timeline and procedures for Tuesday’s debate, lawmakers anticipated the potentially emotional battle over the resolution with angry exchanges over Republican efforts to cast doubt on Biden’s sweeping election victory.
READ: Online misinformation leading to Capitol siege is ‘radicalization’, researchers say
McGovern challenged Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, a staunch Trump ally who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from the president on Monday, to declare that Biden won “fairly and the election was not stolen.”
Jordan declined to speak those words and defended his challenges to the Electoral College result, saying, “I followed the process that the Constitution prescribes” when there are concerns about the results of a state’s elections.
“I’m amazed that after everything that’s happened we can’t get a definitive answer,” McGovern replied as the two lawmakers argued and talked to each other.
If Trump hasn’t resigned and Pence hasn’t taken action by Wednesday, Democratic leaders plan to bring impeachment to the House.
McConnell has said no trials could begin until the chamber returns from its recess on January 19.
But Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who will become Majority Leader after two Georgia Democrats take their seats and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is sworn in, told reporters the Senate could be called in to handle the affair.
