Why Was Donald Trump Impeached
Democrats argue Mr Trump’s address to a rally of a supporters incited the Jan 6 attack on the US Capitol.
The former president told his supporters to march on Congress and fight like hell in his attempt to overturn his election defeat to President Joe Biden. Dozens of protesters broke into the building as tens of thousands gathered outside.
Democrats also say Mr Trump’s refusal to concede the November election played a part in encouraging the assault.
“His incitement of insurrection against the United States government, which disrupted the peaceful transfer of power, is the most grievous constitutional crime ever committed by a president,” the said yesterday.
What Are Donald Trump’s Chances
Democrats seeking his conviction on one count of “incitement of insurrection” face an uphill climb. Currently, the Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans.
The backing of 67 senators is needed for conviction, meaning 17 Republicans would have to turn on Mr Trump.
Republicans have backed the proceedings in the past. During the House vote, on Jan 13, 10 Republicans voted for impeachment and the article carried by 232 votes to 197.
But although many struggled over how to respond to Mr Trump’s role, and his failure to try and quell the violence, most Republicans senators are lining up against conviction.
While few defend his actions, many argue that Congress does not have the power to impeach a former president. They also maintain that another trial will hurt efforts to unify the country in the post-Trump era.
Republican senators have rallied around Mr Trump, , and making clear it would end in acquittal.
Listen To The Daily: The Impeachment Of President Donald J Trump
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Despite years of speculation, Mr. Trumps impeachment did not, in the end, grow out of the two-year investigation into Russian election meddling by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, or the seemingly endless series of other accusations of corruption and misconduct that have plagued this White House: tax evasion, profiting from the presidency, payoffs to a pornographic film actress and fraudulent activities by his charitable foundation.
Instead, the existential threat to Mr. Trumps presidency centered around a half-hour phone call in July. On it, he pressured Ukraines president to announce investigations into former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and other Democrats at the same time he was withholding nearly $400 million in vital military assistance for the country and a White House meeting.
Congress learned about the call after an anonymous C.I.A. official lodged a whistle-blower complaint in August pulling a string that helped unravel an effort by the president and his allies to pressure a foreign government for help in smearing a political rival. Over a period of weeks this fall, a parade of diplomats and other administration officials confirmed and expanded on those revelations.
And Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Democratic presidential contender who has built her reputation as a maverick in her party, voted present on both articles.
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Donald Trump Becomes The First Us President To Be Impeached Twice
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House for a historic second time Wednesday, charged with incitement of insurrection over the deadly mob siege of the Capitol in a swift and stunning collapse of his final days in office.
With the Capitol secured by armed National Guard troops inside and out, the House voted 232-197 to impeach Trump. The proceedings moved at lightning speed, with lawmakers voting just one week after violent pro-Trump loyalists stormed the U.S. Capitol, egged on by the presidents calls for them to fight like hell against the election results.
Ten Republicans fled Trump, joining Democrats who said he needed to be held accountable and warned ominously of a clear and present danger if Congress should leave him unchecked before Democrat Joe Bidens inauguration Jan. 20.
Trump is the only U.S. president to be twice impeached.
The Capitol insurrection stunned and angered lawmakers, who were sent scrambling for safety as the mob descended, and it revealed the fragility of the nations history of peaceful transfers of power. The riot also forced a reckoning among some Republicans, who have stood by Trump throughout his presidency and largely allowed him to spread false attacks against the integrity of the 2020 election.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invoked Abraham Lincoln and the Bible, imploring lawmakers to uphold their oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Pm Pelosi Hasn’t Left The House Floor Since 10 Am
ABC’s Benjamin Siegel reports from the House chamber:
On a typical day on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a blur.
Reporters catch glimpses of the speaker, surrounded by her security detail and aides, speeding between back-to-back meeting with lawmakers, Cabinet officials, congressional leadership and even foreign delegations, juggling private discussions on the House floor during votes with media appearances and photos ops in front of half-a-dozen cameras.
But today, ever since our team spotted her walking to the House chamber, she’s been in place. She’s spent the morning and early afternoon sitting with Democrats and listening to the floor debate, occasionally chatting with staffers and other lawmakers.
After her remarks to kick off debate, she spent some time in the front of the chamber, nodding along with some of the points made by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee. Now she’s sitting towards the back, in an aisle seat.
Other members of leadership — from Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP Whip Steve Scalise, to members of her own leadership team — have been in and out of the chamber.
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Other Presidents Threatened With Impeachment
A significant number of U.S. presidents have faced calls for impeachment, including five of the past six Republican presidents. But few of those accusations were taken seriously by Congress.
There were even rumblings about impeaching the nation’s first president, George Washington, by those who opposed his policies. Those calls, however, did not reach the point of becoming formal resolutions or charges.
John Tyler was the first president to face impeachment charges. Nicknamed His Accidency for assuming the presidency after William Henry Harrison died after just 30 days in office, Tyler was wildly unpopular with his own Whig party. A House representative from Virginia submitted a petition for Tylers impeachment, but it was never taken up by the House for a vote.
Between 1932 and 1933, a congressman introduced two impeachment resolutions against Herbert Hoover. Both were eventually tabled by large margins.
More recently, both Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were the subject of impeachment resolutions submitted by Henry B. Gonzales, a Democratic representative from Texas, but none of the resolutions were taken up for a vote in the House Judiciary Committee.
Pm Gop Rep Ross Spano Calls Impeachment ‘attempt To Undo 2016 Election’
“The American people see through this sad charade for what it is: an attempt to undo the 2016 election based on hearsay and opinion,” Rep. Ross Spano, a Florida Republican says.
President Trump “tried to cheat. He got caught. He confessed. And then he obstructed the investigation,” Democratic Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island says.
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Trump Lawyer: His Call To Georgia Officials To ‘find’ Votes Was Taken Out Of Context
Trump’s lawyers largely sidestepped Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked during the question-and-answer session: “Are the prosecutors right when they claim that Trump was telling a big lie, or in your judgment did Trump actually win the election?”
Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen shot back, “My judgment? Who asked that?”
“I did,” Sanders replied.
“My judgment is irrelevant,” van der Veen said.
“You represent the president of the United States!” Sanders yelled back before Sen. Patrick Leahy, the presiding officer, gaveled the chamber back to order.
Trump’s rhetoric about widespread fraud and a stolen election was false, dismissed by many courts stemming from dozens of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign and allies across several key states.
Donald Trump Has Been Officially Impeached
Its now official. After a day of debate and commentary on the House floor, President Donald Trump has been impeached for the second time in a years time. This time, Democrats and some Republicans are accusing him inciting the riot that happened on Capitol Hill last week.
Its official. President Trump becomes the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.
Daily Caller
This attempt will almost certainly end the same way the first one did. While there will likely be a few more Republican crossovers this time in the Senate , getting to the required amount to officially convict will be a tall, tall order. The fact that the trial wont happen until after Trump leaves office wont help matters either for those hoping to see the President reprimanded. Of course, in the end, the real goal here is the a subsequent vote to bar him from ever running for public office again. Thats what Democrats want, but its also what a number of Republicans want, seeing it as the easiest way to stop Trump from dominating the party in 2024.
This will almost certainly fail, and I believe its a miscalculation by the GOP if they think this will get Trump to go away. It will likely have the opposite effect.
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Here Are All The Us Presidents Who Have Been Impeached
- Former President Donald Trump is facing his second impeachment trial starting February 9.
- . The Senate acquitted him on February 5.
- Only two presidents were impeached before Trump Andrew Johnson in 1866 and Bill Clinton in 1998.
- Richard Nixon resigned before he could be impeached in 1974.
- Here’s how the process went for them and how it compares with today’s.
Former President Donald Trump in December 2019 became the third president in US history to be impeached and the first president to be impeached twice in January 2021.
Trump now faces his second impeachment trial, beginning February 9, after the Democratic-controlled House voted 232-197 to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting a violent insurrection on the US Capitol on January 6.
Ten House Republicans, including the third-highest-ranking House Republican, Rep. Liz Cheney, joined their Democratic colleagues and voted in favor of Trump’s impeachment.
The Senate is made up of 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, with the Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia sworn in on the same day as Biden. A two-thirds majority of 67 senators is required to convict a federal officer.
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The House impeached Trump on two articles on December 18, 2019. These stemmed from Congress’ investigation into whether Trump abused his power by trying to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.
Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial Officially Begins As Senate Comes To Order
Former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial officially kicked off Tuesday, with the Senate convening in the chamber as a court of impeachment.
The trial began nearly a month after the House impeached Trump on one article of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
Democrats had unsuccessfully pushed Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell to start the trial before Trump left office on Jan. 20. With Trump now a private citizen, the opening hours of the trial are expected to center around whether it is constitutional for the Senate to try a former president. Kevin Breuninger
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So What Was Trump Impeached For
President Trump will be the first U.S. president to be impeached twice and the first federal official to be tried for insurrection against the United States.
The articles for impeachment this time around revolve around the question of if Trump was “personally responsible” for the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
Prosection: The prosecution of House impeachment managers, which will be lead by Maryland’s own Rep. Jamie Raskin, argue that yes, he was. They say that Trump was slow to condemn the violence of the mob on January 6, and that his speech to rioters prior to the assault only encouraged the violent attacks, therefore a violation of his oath to office and threatened national security. They also argue that Trump’s continual mentions of a “rigged election” and claiming to be the winner of the presidential race, interfered with the democratic process.
Defense: Meanwhile, Trump’s legal team, lead by David Schoen and Bruce Castor, will argue the opposite, instead pointing at the legality of the trial altogether. They argue that Trump was using his First Amendment rights when speaking about the election, and say that there’s no evidence that Trump knew rioters would storm the Capitol when he made his speech.
Have senators or other federal officials been charged with insurrection before?
Our sources for this one are Senate records and Constitutional law professor Dr. Mark Graber from the University of Maryland.
Bill Clinton: Impeached In 1998
President Clinton walking to the podium to deliver a short statement on the impeachment inquiry, apologizing to the country for his conduct in the Monica Lewinsky affair and that he would accept a congressional censure or rebuke.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
Clinton was plagued by legal troubles and scandals from the moment he entered the White House. In 1993, Clinton and his First Lady, Hillary, were the subject of a Justice Department investigation into the so-called Whitewater controversy, a botched business deal from their days in Arkansas. And in 1994, Clinton was sued for sexual harassment by Paula Jones, who claimed Clinton exposed himself to her in a hotel room in 1991.
Interestingly, it was a combination of both legal cases that would ultimately lead to Clintons impeachment. Independent counsel Kenneth Starr was appointed by the Justice Department to investigate the Whitewater affair, but he couldnt find any impeachable evidence. Meanwhile, lawyers for Jones got a tip that Clinton had an affair with a 21-year-old White House intern named Monica Lewinsky, a claim that both Lewinsky and Clinton denied under oath.
When the story went public, Clinton was forced to address the accusations on national television.
I want you to listen to me, Clinton famously said. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time, never.
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Can Trump Run For Re
In a previous interview with Global News, Michael Gerhardt, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law and author of Impeachment: What Everyone Needs to Know, says if Trump is acquitted by the Senate, there is nothing that prevents him from running for re-election.
Hell emerge from this process if hes not convicted and removed the likelihood is that he wont be convicted and removed claiming hes been exonerated and then lambasting the Democrats for a sham process, Gerhardt said.
If Trump is removed from office, Vice-President Mike Pence would take over the office of the president until the 2020 election.
With files from Reuters
