The House Just Voted To Impeach President Trump Here’s What Happens Next
From CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf
The House has just voted to impeach President Trump for the second time making him the only US president to ever be impeached twice. The resolution passed 232 to 197.
The impeachment resolution the House voted on charges Trump with;a single article, “incitement of insurrection” for his role in last week’s deadly Capitol riot.
Ten Republicans, including the House’s No. 3 Republican, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, joined with Democrats to impeach Trump.
There is no such thing as a routine impeachment but this one is unprecedented in all sorts of ways.
The overall impeachment process laid out in the Constitution is relatively simple:
- A president commits “high Crime or Misdemeanor”
- The House votes to impeach
- The Senate conducts a trial
This impeachment process will feel entirely new and different from the one we saw in late 2019 around the Ukraine investigation, most notably because the Senate trial is expected to occur after Trump leaves office.
Here’s why that’s important:
New President Joe Biden will be asking the Senate to vote on his Cabinet nominees and act on legislation to address the Covid pandemic as well as relief for Americans hurt by the troubled economy.
In 2020, Senate business ground to a complete halt during the trial. This time, incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is hoping to pursue a half-day schedule to conduct the trial part of the day and business the rest of the day.
Watch the moment:
Trump’s Iron Grip Loosens
With just a week left in his term, it now appears all but certain that Donald Trump will become the first president to be impeached twice.
Unlike his first go through the process, this vote will have the support of at least a handful of Republicans – including Liz Cheney, a member of the party’s House leadership team. There is also, unlike January 2020, a chance the Senate has enough votes to successfully convict the president. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s recent signals of approval are evidence of that.
Of course, the primary consequence of Senate conviction – removal from office – seems of limited relevance with so little time left in the Trump presidency. Democrats, however, view impeachment as a formal way of marking their outrage at the president’s behaviour, not just last week, but during his months of challenging and undermining November’s election results.
A successful conviction could also result in Trump’s being banned from ever holding federal public office again and stripped of the privileges enjoyed by ex-presidents.
That prospect alone, in the minds of Democrats , makes impeachment worth the effort.
Liz Cheney Vote Count Latest Elise Stefanik Could Replace Wyoming Republican After House Gop Voted To Remove Her
- 8:30 ET, May 13 2021
GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik is favored to take over the position formerly held by Liz Cheney before her ousting on Wednesday.
Stefanik, the 36-year-old lawmaker from New York, originally criticized former President Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign for his “inappropriate, offensive” comments on the notorious Access Hollywood tape.
Since then, her stance has flipped, and when she voted against Trump’s impeachment, he called her a “new Republican star.”
Stefanik was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress in 2014, and the first woman to serve as the recruitment chair for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Cheney, 54, lost her post as House Republican Conference chair due to ongoing comments against Trump.
Cheney has often been vocal against former President Donald Trump and politicians from her own party.
The Republican was also facing backlash from colleagues as she has criticized them for promoting the big lie of baseless election fraud back in 2020.
Trump and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise have backed Stefanik.
On Tuesday, Cheney gave a speech on the House floor firing back at Trump and blasted fellow Republicans for backing the former president even after the attack on the US Capitol earlier this year.
Read our Liz Cheney live blog for the latest on the vote…
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House Republicans Join Democrats In Voting To Impeach Trump
Washington Ten Republican members of the House, including one of its highest-ranking leaders, joined Democrats in voting to impeach President Trump for inciting the deadly attack on the Capitol last week by a violent mob of his supporters.;
The final vote was 232 to 197, as the 10 Republicans joined all 222 Democrats in voting in favor of the impeachment resolution.;
The article of impeachment will next be delivered to the Senate, where Mr. Trump will be placed on trial. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said after the House vote that there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week.
Mr. Trump is the first president to be impeached twice. When he was;impeached;in 2019 over his attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden, no House Republicans voted in favor of impeaching him. But this time, 10 members of his own party determined his actions warranted impeachment.
Here are the Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump:
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Liz Cheney of Wyoming
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Tom Rice of South Carolina
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Fred Upton of Michigan
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David Valadao of California
Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House, said in a statement on Tuesday that she would vote to impeach Mr. Trump after he whipped up his supporters Wednesday at a rally not far from the Capitol.
A Majority Vote In The House Is Needed To Impeach Trump But 20 Republican Senators Will Need To Join A Vote To Remove Him
GettyTrump at the Social Media Summit
Impeachment proceedings are more complicated than they might sound. If you recall, in former President Bill Clintons administration, there were enough votes to impeach him but there were not enough votes to convict and remove him. This could happen again with President Donald Trump. You can read all the laws on impeachment proceedings here.
A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach Trump. This might not be difficult since the Democrats have a majority in the House.
If all 435 House members vote, they would need 218 votes for a majority to be reached and for Trump to be impeached.;There are 235 Democrats in office in the House, one Independent, and 199 Republicans, Reuters explained.
So getting a majority of Democrats wouldnt be difficult, since a majority of House Democrats already supported impeachment earlier this year. But even with an impeachment vote, Trump would still not be removed from office.
With a majority vote in the House, articles of impeachment would be approved that lay out all the impeachable offenses. Treason and bribery qualify as crimes warranting impeachment, as do other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
But this is not all that is needed to remove a sitting President. They would then need 2/3 majority of the Senates 100 members to vote to for the President to be removed from office. That means a total of 67 Senators would need to vote to convict and remove the President.
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Ten Republicans Joined Democrats In Impeaching Trump A Historic Second Time A Move That Was Quickly Met With Condemnation Back In Their Home States Theyve Been Publicly Scolded Pushed To Resign And Warned That Local Organizations Will Mount A Strong Push To Oust Them From Office In The Primary
After my last election, I had decided not to run again. But the vote by Congressman Valadao to impeach President Trump with no witnesses, evidence, or without allowing any defense was too much for me to stay on the sidelines, Chris Mathys, a former Fresno, California, city council member, told;Newsweek.
Valadao, who represents Californias 21st district, wasnt in office during Trumps first impeachment, as he had been ousted from office in 2018 by Democrat TJ Coxx. In November, Valadao won back his seat from the Democrat who beat him in 2018 by less than a point. The Republican placed blame on Trump for the Capitol riot, saying that his rhetoric was un-American, abhorrent and absolutely an impeachable offense.
That vote in favor of impeaching Trump violated the trust of the millions of Americans that voted for Trump in the November election, according to Mathys, who unsuccessfully sought a seat in New Mexicos House during the 2020 primary. The decision was so egregious, that Mathys doesnt think voters will forget it.
Whit Ayer, a GOP strategist, told;Newsweek;it was a very gutsy decision to vote in favor of impeachment because they knew they would likely draw challenges. However, it remains to be seen how much the impeachment will play in the 2022 primary and one of the factors that is still up in the air is how much of a political powerhouse Trump will be in 18 months.
The 7 Republican Senators Who Voted To Convict Former President Donald Trump Explain Their Rationale
Donald Trumps second impeachment trial came to an end Saturday with 57 senators voting to convict, falling short of the two-thirds margin required to find him guilty of the charge of incitement of insurrection in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that resulted in five deaths. Seven GOP senators broke with their party voting along with all 48 Democrats and both independents in the body.
After the 57-43 vote, the Republicans who defied Trump explained their decision.
Richard Burr, North Carolina
The facts are clear, Burr said in a statement after the vote. The President promoted unfounded conspiracy theories to cast doubt on the integrity of a free and fair election because he did not like the results. As Congress met to certify the election results, the President directed his supporters to go to the Capitol to disrupt the lawful proceedings required by the Constitution. When the crowd became violent, the President used his office to first inflame the situation instead of immediately calling for an end to the assault.
Burr originally voted that the trial was unconstitutional, but said in his statement that the Senate is an institution based on precedent, and given that the majority of the Senate voted to proceed with this trial, the question of constitutionality is now established precedent.
He has already announced he will not be running for reelection in 2022.
Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
Lisa Murkowski, Alaska
Mitt Romney, Utah
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Why Most Gop Senators Are Likely To Oppose Conviction
Despite strong bipartisan elite fury and dismay over Trumps conduct leading up to and during the January 6 crisis, the base hasnt abandoned him in any significant way. Yes, hes losing some support across the board, but not enough to embolden Republican rebels. A new Axios-Ipsos survey dramatically shows the current public opinion dynamics: A majority of Americans now favor removing Trump from office, but a majority of Republicans still think Trump was right to challenge his election loss, support him, dont blame him for the Capitol mob and want him to be the Republican nominee in 2024. Among the more than one-third of Republicans who appear to identify with Trump more than with their party, support for Trump 2024 which of course conviction in the Senate would make impossible is at an astronomical 92 percent.
Republican senators will be reluctant to fight that sentiment, particularly since there are so many ways they could vote against convicting Trump without condoning his conduct. As his presidency quickly recedes into the background, Senate sentiment for formally burying him may recede as well.
House Democrats To Vote To Remove Gop Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene Of Committee Assignments
House Democrats are set to push ahead with stripping Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments after Republicans opted not to punish the Georgia congresswoman for past comments shes made in support of harmful conspiracy theories.
Greene has claimed that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and high-profile school shootings like the Sandy Hook Elementary attack are hoaxes and has called for the execution of prominent Democrats.;
The Rules Committee Wednesday voted to bring the matter to the full House for a vote Thursday that will decide whether Greene can stay on her committees for the rest of her term.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the Democrats Greene had said should be killed, denounced Republicans for not expelling Greene from the caucus. “McCarthy has chosen to make House Republicans ‘the party of conspiracy theories and QAnon’ and Rep. Greene is in the drivers seat,” Pelosi said in a statement Wednesday that identified McCarthys party identification as Q.;
We had hoped that the Republican leadership would have dealt with this. For whatever reason, they dont want to deal with it. And that’s unfortunate. So we are taking this step,” said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass, who chairs the Rules Committee. “The question we all have to ask ourselves is what is the consequence of doing nothing.
Matthew Brown
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Security Concerns Among Trumps Supporters
Trump doesnt appear to want to go away quietly, which is also a cause for concern from a security standpoint.
This week, a leaked internal FBI bulletin warned that armed protests are planned for all 50 states and Washington DC in the days before President-elect Joe Bidens inauguration on January 20.
Some state capitol buildings have begun boarding up their doors and windows, while 15,000 National Guard troops have been mobilised for deployment to the nations capital ahead of expected violence and unrest.
This is an unfortunate sign of how many expect Trumps supporters to respond to both his impeachment and Bidens inauguration even with Trump finally urging against further violence and unrest.
Most presidents aim to leave office with the nation better off than when they entered, but Trumps legacy appears to be cementing a more divided country, where his brand of aggressive conflict politics may be the new norm.
This is a no-win situation for the country. And Republicans are still trying to figure out which side of history they want to be on.
Republicans Gear Up To Oust Liz Cheney As Punishment For Criticizing Trump
Goaded on by the ghostly figure of Trump, House Republicans are poised to eject Cheney from her number three leadership post
Infighting within the Republican party is set to come to a head this week, goaded on by the ghostly figure of former president Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago hideout in Florida.
House Republicans are gearing up to oust Liz Cheney on Wednesday from her position as the partys number three leader in the chamber.
Her removal would come as punishment for her public criticism of Trump with regard to his role in inciting the 6 January Capitol insurrection and his big lie that last years presidential election was stolen from him.
Cheney was one of 10 Republicans to vote in favor of impeaching Trump for incitement of insurrection.
Leading Republicans took to the political talkshow circuit on Sunday to express support or opposition to the congresswoman from Wyoming. Critically, Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader who has in the past stood up for Cheney, made their break-up official when he told Fox News that he was endorsing Cheneys rival Elise Stefanik for the number three post.
What were talking about is a position in leadership. As conference chair, you have one of the most critical jobs as a messenger going forward, McCarthy told Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.
Jim Banks, an Indiana congressman who chairs the largest Republican caucus in the House, attempted to justify the action against Cheney on grounds of party discipline.
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Liz Cheney Booed On Her Way Out
Republican lawmakers booed Rep. Liz Cheney when she criticized Trump in her speech responding to her removal from leadership.
“We cannot let the former president drag us backward and make us complicit in his efforts to unravel our democracy,” she said. “Down that path lies our destruction, and potentially the destruction of our country.”
Are There Enough Senate Republican Votes To Convict Trump
The brisk and successful drive to a second impeachment of Donald Trump and his ebbing power in Washington have raised some hopes that this time around the U.S. Senate might actually convict him of high crimes and misdemeanors and bar him from future office . Predictions that this could happen appear to be based largely on the relatively low level of Senate Republican support for Trumps electoral-vote protests on January 6, and a surge of questionably sourced claims that Mitch McConnell might actually support conviction.
Its worth taking a closer look at how many Republican senators might reasonably be expected to throw Trump into the dustbin of history. Seventeen GOP senators would have to break ranks to convict him on the incitement to insurrection impeachment article, assuming Democrats stick together . After conviction, only a simple majority would be needed to prohibit Trump from holding future office. Who might these Republican defectors be, in theory?
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Here Are The Republicans Calling For Biden’s Removal Amid Afghanistan Fallout
The fall of Kabul on Sunday and the resultant emergency evacuation of U.S. citizens from Afghanistan have triggered a wave of outrage among lawmakers, with numerous Republicans going beyond mere criticism of the Biden administration’s drawdown of U.S. troops to say that the president ought to vacate office.
The invocation of the 25th Amendment, resignation, and impeachment have all been promoted in recent days as possible solutions by a growing number of Republican officials, who say Biden’s actions since Afghanistan fell to the Taliban call into question the president’s fitness to serve.
Here are the GOP members who have called on Biden to leave or be removed from the Oval Office so far.
25th Amendment
Multiple lawmakers have said the use of the 25th Amendment may be in order.
Sen. Rick Scott: “After the disastrous events in Afghanistan, we must confront a serious question: Is Joe Biden capable of discharging the duties of his office or has time come to exercise the provisions of the 25th Amendment?” Scott wrote in a tweet Monday.
Rep. Claudia Tenney: Tenney, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was less equivocal, saying it is “clear” Biden is failing to perform his duties.
Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought during the previous Congress to establish a commission within the body to participate in 25th Amendment proceedings during the waning days of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Resignation
Impeachment
