President Trump has officially become the first president in American history to be impeached two times.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed an article of impeachment charging Trump with "incitement of insurrection," one week after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol building in a deadly riot. The resolution was passed with ten Republicans voting in favor, including Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the third highest-ranking member of the party in the House.
The vote came following several hours of debate, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) opened by arguing Trump is a "clear and present danger" to the United States after he "incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country." House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) argued impeaching Trump "in such a short time frame would be a mistake," but he agreed that the president "bears responsibility" for the attack on the Capitol.
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Trump spoke to his supporters prior to the riot last week and urged them to "walk down to the Capitol" where Congress was meeting to certify President-elect Joe Biden's election win, telling the crowd, "you will never take back our country with weakness." The subsequent riot at the Capitol left five people dead, but Trump has denied responsibility and claimed his remarks were "totally appropriate" despite facing a bipartisan rebuke.
Trump was previously impeached in 2019 for pressuring the president of Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. That time, no Republicans voted in favor of impeaching him. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) doesn't plan to use his emergency powers to bring the Senate back for an immediate impeachment trial before Jan. 19, however. McConnell has said he has "not made a final decision" on whether he'll vote to convict Trump.
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