This morning as he departed Joint Base Andrews to visit the border with Mexico, President Donald J. Trump said his remarks to supporters just before they stormed the U.S. Capitol last week were “totally appropriate,” even as they have become the basis for an article of impeachment against him. He did not address his own role in inciting the mob of Trump supporters. Instead, the president framed himself as yet again a victim, calling impeachment a “continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics.” “I think it’s causing tremendous anger in this country,” he said.
The House is poised to vote tonight to formally call on Vice President Mike Pence to strip President Trump of his duties by invoking the 25th Amendment. The vote comes a day after House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment charging the president for his role in inciting a violent mob of his supporters to storm the Capitol, where rioters ransacked the seat of American government and killed a Capitol Police officer. The House plans to move swiftly, beginning a debate on the impeachment resolution at 9 am Wednesday morning and marching toward a vote late in the day unless Mr. Pence intervenes. However, Pence met with Trump for over an hour Monday night and the two agreed to work together through the end of their term leaving little doubt that the vice president will ignore the House demand. That means House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will go through with a vote on a single article of impeachment Wednesday. Currently, there are 222 members in the House Democratic Caucus, with 217 needed for passage on the floor.
To get to the impeachment vote, the House Rules Committee is currently debating the rule on H.Res. 21 – Calling on Vice President Mike Pence to convene and mobilize the principal officers to activate section 4 of the 25th Amendment, and at approximately 6:00 p.m., the House will reconvene and begin one hour of debate on the Rule followed by a vote on the resolution which will pass tonight.
House leaders may elect to hold the articles of impeachment until President-elect Biden is in office and Democrats have control of the Senate. Conviction in the Senate requires “two-thirds of members present,” or 67 votes. The Senate is currently in recess, and bringing senators back before January 19th would require support from outgoing Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who remains majority leader at least until Inauguration Day. A trial that begins on that day, as it would under current rules, would delay confirmation of Biden’s cabinet nominees and early legislative initiatives, including a new stimulus. The Senate Finance Committee has already announced it is expected to hold a confirmation hearing for Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for Treasury secretary, next Tuesday. The planned hearing date is one day before Biden’s inauguration. If confirmed, Yellen is expected to play a key role in the new administration’s response to the coronavirus-related economic downturn. Yellen, a former chair of the Federal Reserve, would also be the first woman to serve as Treasury secretary.
As the fallout from last Wednesday in the House and Senate continues, House Democrats on Monday introduced legislation that would allow a committee to investigate and potentially expel Republican lawmakers who had participated in efforts to subvert the results of the November election. The legislation would direct the House ethics committee to “investigate, and issue a report on” lawmakers who had sought to overturn the election, and to determine if they “should face sanction, including removal from the House of Representatives.” House lawmakers can be expelled from their seats under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies elected officials who “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States. Representative Cori Bush, Democrat of Missouri, began drafting the bill as she and other House lawmakers sheltered in place during the storming of the Capitol last week. The resolution, which has 47 co-sponsors, names Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama and Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri as leaders of the effort by 147 Republicans to overturn the results of the election.
