The article of impeachment will now go to the Senate, but the trial will not start until early next week. Ylan Mui reports. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: cnb.cx/2NGeIvi
President Donald Trump, a man hyperaware of his achievements and place in history, added a first to his record on Wednesday.
A week before he will leave office, Trump became the first American president impeached by the House twice. The chamber charged him with high crimes and misdemeanors for inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol seven days ago.
The president’s behavior in the 13 months since the first impeachment left House Democrats making a more clear-cut case than the first time around. The chamber charged Trump in a 232-197 vote, as all Democrats and 10 Republicans backed the measure.
The four-page article of impeachment argues that Trump fed his supporters months of false claims that widespread fraud cost him the 2020 election, then urged them to contest the results before they marched to the Capitol and disrupted Congress’ count of President-elect Joe Biden’s win.
“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 manifest injury of the people of the United States,” the House’s charging document reads.
After the insurrection that killed at least five people, including a Capitol Police officer, Democrats have argued that allowing Trump to serve out his term lets him dodge the consequences and raises the prospect of more violence before Biden’s inauguration next Wednesday.
Still, Congress likely will not have enough time to push the president out of office before next week — even if the now GOP-held Senate chooses to convict him. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said after the House vote that the upper chamber would not start the trial until “our first regular meeting following receipt of the article from the House” — Tuesday at the earliest. The timeline means the impeachment proceedings will drag into Biden’s term.
“Even if the Senate process were to begin this week and move promptly, no final verdict would be reached until after President Trump had left office,” McConnell said in a statement Wednesday. “This is not a decision I am making; it is a fact.”
While the Senate will not have enough time to remove the president from office, it can stop him from becoming president again in 2025. He could also lose perks given to former presidents.
Democrats urged Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to start the faster process of removing Trump through the 25th Amendment. Pence refused, arguing in a letter Tuesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that the move is not “in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution.”
Pelosi opened the impeachment debate on the House floor Wednesday by arguing Trump “must go.” Speaking after the vote when she formally signed the article, Pelosi said she took the step “sadly and with a heart broken over what it means to our country.”
“Today, in a bipartisan way, the House demonstrated that no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States, that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our country,” she said, speaking at the lectern where a rioter was photographed carrying out of the Capitol a week earlier.
Though a handful of Republicans voted to impeach Trump, the vast majority of GOP representatives opposed the effort even after the attack on the Capitol. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Wednesday that Trump “bears responsibility” for the riot, but he called impeachment “a mistake” without an investigation or hearings.
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