Trump Becomes First Sitting President to Be Impeached Twice
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has signed the article of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
Donald Trump has become the first sitting president to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives.
Congress voted 232 to 197 on the sole article of impeachment.
Now, President Trump faces trial in the senate.
Ten Republicans voted with Democrats to impeach the president, making this vote the most bipartisan impeachment vote in US history.
They are:
- Liz Cheney of Wyoming (the third highest-ranking Republican in the House)
- Adam Kinzinger of Illinois (the only Republican that voted on a bill calling for Vice-President Mike Pence to take over as president yesterday)
- John Katko of New York (the first House Republican to say he’d vote to impeach)
- Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio
- Tom Rice of South Carolina
- Dan Newhouse of Washington State
- Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington State
- Fred Upton of Michigan
- David Valadao of Florida
- Peter Meijer of Michigan
Senators will then act as jurors during the trial and ultimately decide whether or not to convict the president on the charge.
The lead manager is Jamie Raskin. He’s joined by Diana DeGette, David Cicilline, Joaquin Castro, Eric Swalwell, Madeleine Dean and Joe Neguse.
“Today the House demonstrated that no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” Nancy Pelosi said before signing.
“That Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the country and that once again we honor that oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
“And now, I sadly and with a heart broken over what this means to our country, of a president who would incite insurrection, will sign the engrossment of the article of impeachment.”
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In a video message posted to the White House’s Twitter account, President Trump has condemned the violence in the Capitol last week, saying “violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and no place in our movement”.
He did not make any reference to impeachment.
The president ends with a call for unity.
“All of us can choose by our actions to rise above the rancor and find common ground and shared purpose. We must focus on advancing the interests of the whole nation, delivering the miracle vaccines, defeating the pandemic, rebuilding the economy, protecting our national security and upholding the rule of law,” Donald Trump said.
“Today I am calling on all Americans to overcome the passions of the moment, and join together as one American people,” he said.
“God bless you, and God bless America.”
When he was first impeached in 2019, President Trump became part of a small group of rebuked US leaders.
After today, President Trump is the first president to be impeached twice.
Only two other presidents in history have been impeached by the House of Representatives – Andrew Johnson, back in 1868, and Bill Clinton in 1998.
President Richard Nixon stepped down and resigned.
But to date, no president has ever been removed from the White House by Congress.