First modification:
The text presented by the Democratic caucus that seeks to remove the president of the United States from office will be voted on this Wednesday, January 13. Earlier, the parliamentary opposition gave Vice President Mike Pence 24 hours to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump for “incapacity.” The mogul called the process “absolutely ridiculous.”
The Democrats, led by Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, are determined to remove President Donald Trump in the eight days remaining in power and even after, albeit symbolically.
On January 11, the blue bench presented the central document of the indictment against Trump for “incitement to insurrection” in his speech on January 6, a day that ended with the assault by his supporters on the Capitol building . Five people died during the unpublished events, including a policeman.
The resolution of the ‘impeachment’, presented by the Democrats Ted Lieu, David Cicilline and Jamie Raskin, denounces the inflammatory speech that the Republican gave next to the White House just hours before Congress met in a joint session to certify the electoral victory of Joe Biden . Trump encouraged thousands of his supporters from across the country to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol to protest.
The text also refers to President Trump’s pressure on Georgia state officials to “find” the exact number of votes he needed in order to reverse Biden’s victory in that territory, exposed with recordings in local media last week.
Mike Pence and the 25th Amendment
But before voting on this resolution, Democrats gave the vice president, Republican Mike Pence, 24 hours to remove the president for “incapacity,” invoking the 25th Amendment that allows the vice president and the cabinet to remove a president who is not capable. to do their job.
This deadline is also inscribed in a resolution that must be voted on on January 12, despite not being approved by Republican parliamentarians. In any case, Pence is not expected to accept this exit.
Today, five days after the President incited a deadly insurrection against American democracy, the @HouseGOP blocked @RepRaskin‘s legislation calling on @VP Pence to activate the 25th Amendment.
– Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 11, 2021
The violent day on Capitol Hill on January 6 opened a wedge between Trump and his vice president. Both were without seeing each other for several days but finally met this Monday and, according to an official source, they spoke of the disorders in Washington.
“The two had a good conversation, discussed what will happen next week and reflected on the last four years of work and the achievements of the Administration,” added the official.
Democratic majority in the lower house would approve the indictment
If Pence does not agree to invoke Amendment 25 after the 24-hour deadline, the Lower House will vote this Wednesday, January 13, on the article of impeachment.
The impeachment is expected to pass because the Democrats have 222 of the 435 members of the House and also have the support of some Republican congressmen.
Blocking a Senate increasingly distant from Trump
Things could get complicated in the Senate that hosts the second phase of this process, the impeachment itself. And the fact is that the Upper House is in recess and only resumes its sessions on January 19, that is, one day before the change of command.
And although after the new elections in Georgia Republicans and Democrats were tied with 50 senators each, and the vice president-elect, Kamala Harris, votes and decides in the event of a tie, the verdict in case of ‘impeachment’ needs the support of two thirds of the senators.
So far, only two Republicans (Lisa Murkowski, from Alaska and Pat Toomey, from Pennsylvania) have expressed their will that the president leave power immediately.
US: Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who has long expressed exasperation over Trump’s conduct in office, told local press that the president simply “needs to get out.”https://t.co/8KD6vx4F6k
– FRANCE 24 Spanish (@ France24_es) January 11, 2021
On January 12, President Trump said that the process against him is “absolutely ridiculous” and that it is “causing a lot of anger.” Asked if he is considering resigning, the tycoon was silent.
The ‘impeachment’ is an extraordinary mechanism contemplated in Article II, section 4 of the Constitution of the United States, to be able to judge and dismiss a president in case of treason, bribery or serious crimes and misdemeanors. It has only been carried out three times. The first, to the Democratic president Andrew Johnson (1868); the second, to the also Democrat Bill Clinton in 1998 and the third, to Trump himself, just a year ago as a result of the Ukraine scandal. The latter was approved by the House, but the Senate acquitted him in early 2020.
Donald Trump’s last days in the White House seem anything but quiet.
With Reuters
.
