WASHINGTON – House Democrats plan to introduce an article of impeachment as early as Monday alleging the president should be removed from office days after a violent pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in a deadly riot.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave the green light to beginning the impeachment process following a "hours-long conversation ... unlike any other'' with her caucus.
“It is the hope of Members that the President will immediately resign. But if he does not, I have instructed the Rules Committee to be prepared to move forward with ... a motion for impeachment," she said in a statement issued by her office Friday evening.
House leaders are still discussing how best to proceed against Trump, who would be the first president ever to be impeached twice. In December 2019,
Democrats could introduce their impeachment article as soon as Monday, according to a person familiar with the effort.
The likeliest vehicle appears to be four-page article alleging "incitement of insurrection" circulated Friday by lawmakers including Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., which labels Trump "a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution."
'This is our house, and we're gonna protect it: Lawmakers prepared to fight or be killed as Trump mob attacked Capitol
The article accuses Trump of engaging in "High Crimes and Misdemeanors by willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States." It alleges he egged on thousands of supporters during a rally near the White House Wednesday to march to the Capitol in support of lawmakers trying to stop the count of electoral college votes recognizing Biden as the winner of the Nov. 3 election.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-MN, has sponsored a similar article of impeachment.
For weeks, Trump has been casting the election that Biden won decisively as fraught with widespread fraud – and therefor illegitimate. But election officials in several states and dozens of court decisions found no evidence to back his claims.
The president and his allies saw Wednesday's ceremonial count in Congress of the Electoral College tally as their last chance to stop Biden's ascension.
"We're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you. ... We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them," he told the crowd. "Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong."
Shortly after, throngs of protesters forcibly entered the Capitol building
"President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government," the House article reads. "He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coordinate branch of government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States."
If introduced Monday, the House could approve the article as soon as mid-week. It would head to the Senate for a trial, where it would take at least two-thirds of the members voting for conviction for Trump to be removed from office.
White House spokesman Judd Deere slammed the move Friday.
"As President Trump said yesterday, this is a time for healing and unity as one Nation," he said. "A politically motivated impeachment against a President, who has done a great job, with 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country."
The two top Democrats in Congress, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have both called on Vice President Mike Pence to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Pelosi said if Pence or the Cabinet didn't act to remove Trump, Congress would consider impeachment.
"Nearly fifty years ago, after years of enabling their rogue President, Republicans in Congress finally told President Nixon that it was time to go.," Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote in a 'dear colleague' letter issued Friday. "Today, following the President’s dangerous and seditious acts, Republicans in Congress need to follow that example and call on Trump to depart his office – immediately. If the President does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action.
Biden on Friday said whether to impeach Trump before his term ends Jan. 20 is “a decision for Congress to make."
“I’ve thought for a long, long time that President Trump wasn’t fit to hold the job. That’s why I ran,” Biden said. “What the Congress decides to do is for them to decide.”
Impeachment or use of the 25th Amendment has garnered little Republican support so far, with only one House Republican, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., openly calling for Trump's removal.
