With only seven days left for him in office, Democrats raced against time to impeach Trump on charges of inciting the storming of the Capitol
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives has launched an impeachment process on the outgoing US President Donald Trump for the second time in his tenure, within the span of 12 months.
With only seven days left for him in office, Democrats raced against time to impeach Trump on charges of inciting the storming of the Capitol last Wednesday, dispensing usual procedures to try to vote on the articles of impeachment by afternoon.
Trump has been unrepentant about the riot that resulted in the deaths of five people, including one police officer, after his rally of supporters against the election of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President alleging fraud in the voting.
Late Tuesday night, the House passed a resolution demanding that Pence assume the presidency by invoking Article 25 of the Constitution that allows him, acting with a majority of the cabinet, to remove Trump.
Even before the House voted the resolution, Pence wrote to Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our nation."
"I urge you and every member of Congress to avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment," he said.
Despite the word having a menacing ring to it, an impeachment is only the framing of charges of by the House for a judicial-style trial in the Senate with the Senators acting as jurors. A two-thirds majority of the Senate - 67 members -- will have to vote to convict.
Trump`s impeachment failed in 2019 in the Republican-controlled Senate.
To convict and throw his out of office, 17 Republican Senators will have to vote for it.
If after impeachment is passed by the House, the Senate trial stretches beyond next Wednesday, when Trump will be out of office, and a conviction, if it comes about, may only have the effect of preventing him from running for office in future, besides being a ringing condemnation.
But first a slice of history. If the momentum holds and Trump does end up getting impeached, it will be for the first time in the country`s 244-year history that a sitting US President gets impeached for a second time. It is already the fourth time a President is facing impeachment proceedings, and Trump accounts for 50 per cent of that total. The other two US presidents on that list: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.
The big difference between Trump`s last impeachment and this one is that the ground has opened underneath the Republican - after the attack on the US Capitol, after Senate control evaporated but not necessarily in that order. Unlike the last time Trump was impeached, when no House Republicans supported charges against him, the Republican support for impeaching Trump this time is growing, by the hour.
Next up, the Senate. After four long years of enabling Trump, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell is said to be "pleased" about impeachment because it will be easier to distance the party from Trump. No matter what happens there, everything that is going on signals a stunning end for the Trump era in the White House.
This excerpt from the impeachment article against Trump says it all: "President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States."
After the experiences of last week, the Capitol building was ringed with high security with National Guard troops deployed at entrances to the Capitol.
(With IANS inputs)
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