Donald Trump’s last days of office: impeachment proceedings started

In the US House of Representatives, according to one MP, the Democrats have passed a resolution to impeach President Donald Trump.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, awaits a response from Vice President Pence Photo: J. Scott Applewhite / ap

WASHINGTON afp / dpa | The US Democrats have passed a resolution in the House of Representatives to impeach President Donald Trump. The impeachment text, in which Trump is accused of “inciting a riot” because of the storm on the Capitol, was presented on Monday in the Congress Chamber, as the Democratic MP Ted Lieu announced. The Democrats also called on Vice President Mike Pence to remove Trump.

But the Republicans have blocked an ultimatum aimed at by the Democrats for US Vice President Mike Pence to remove incumbent President Donald Trump for the time being. The attempt by Democratic MP Steny Hoyer to pass a resolution unanimously failed on Monday due to opposition from Republican MP Alex Mooney.

The resolution was intended to call on Pence to take immediate steps to remove the incumbent president on the basis of an amendment to the US constitution following the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of Trump. The resolution provides for Pence to respond to the request within 24 hours.

The House of Representatives will meet again on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. local time (3:00 p.m. CET). It is expected that it will then deal with the resolution again and decide on it. Since the Democrats have a majority in the chamber, the resolution should then be passed.

The spokeswoman for the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, had already urged Pence in the past few days to take steps to remove Trump. The basis is Amendment 25 of the US Constitution.

According to this, the vice-president can declare the president incapable of “exercising the rights and duties of office” with a majority of important cabinet members. But Pence has not yet responded to the demands.