Parliament Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her management team reviewed their options on Thursday night, and there was a strong feeling that impeachment was the way forward, according to many sources. Although there were some dissenters who were concerned that the move could be seen as excessive and exclude Trump supporters in their neighborhoods, most top Democrats – including Pelosi – said Trump should be held accountable for his actions.
This process will not be something like 2019. It will be fast: No investigations and no weekly hearings. The most likely scenario is that a member brought a privileged resolution to the floor of the House and proposed it during the session.
This does not mean that he will be removed from office, which will require the Senate to vote on it.
Assistants to the Judiciary Committee are consulting with the authors of one of the Democratic impeachment resolutions – representatives David Sicillin, Jamie Ruskin and Ted Liu – in order to prepare for a swift move to a potential vote on impeachment on the House floor next week. according to about three sources.
Aides are helping to edit and fine-tune the impeachment resolution, sources said, which includes an article on impeachment of abuse of power, accusing Trump of inciting the Capitol uprising. Thursday’s impeachment resolution includes Trump’s call with Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Rafensperger, but some moderate members are urging the impeachment to be as clear as possible to focus on Wednesday’s events.
What to watch
This is moving fast. The members were not at this place two days ago. Wednesday’s events, the images played on television screens, the stories of what happened at the Capitol complex and the president’s approach to all this before and after ended with members feeling as if something had to happen now. Pelosi told the press on Thursday that its members were constantly sending “impeach, impeach” messages.
More than 60 Democrats, led by Republican Dean Phillips of Minnesota, Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Tom Malinowski of New Jersey, sent a letter to Democratic leaders on Friday asking them to come together and work to impeach Trump after the Capitol violation. on Wednesday.
“We are writing with respect for the House to assemble immediately to comply with the attack on our democracy that we experienced on January 6,” the Democrats wrote. “We can address the question of whether President Trump should be punished or imperial for inciting a violent attack on the United States Congress, as well as Representative Ruskin’s proposal for Congress to appoint a body, as provided for in the 25th Amendment, to to determine whether the President is able to perform the powers and duties of his office.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who is leading the investigation into the House’s impeachment of Trump in 2019 for his efforts to put pressure on Ukraine to investigate President-elect Joe Biden in the early stages of the 2020 campaign, said in a statement. a statement on Friday that it supports the removal of Trump through the 25th Amendment or Impeachment.
“Every day he stays in office, he is a danger to the republic and he must leave the post immediately, through resignation, the 25th Amendment or impeachment,” Schiff said.
What would happen in the Senate
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not speak on the issue. But given that the House is likely to accept this with only days left in Trump’s presidency, McConnell is likely to simply run out of time.
Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska who was an early critic of the rhetoric of the Trump election for Trump, told CBS Morning News that he would consider all members of the House impeachment.
“The chamber, if they come together and have a trial, will definitely consider what articles they could move because, as I told you, I believe the president has ignored his oath,” Sasse said Friday.
This story was updated with additional developments on Friday.
CNN’s Daniela Diaz, Rachel Yanfaza and Phil Matingley contributed to this report.
