Trump: First President Ever To Be Impeached Twice

Emma Sullivan|January 24, 2021

The United States Capitol Building. (Wikimedia Commons License).

The United States House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump for “inciting insurrection” on January 13th, 2021.

The impeachment came on the heels of Trump supporters storming the United States Capitol Building in an attempt to convince lawmakers to overturn the results of the 2020 election, The vote was 232-197, with ten House Republicans breaking rank and voting with the Democrats to impeach the President. The articles of impeachment will now be sent to the United States Senate, which will vote on whether President Trump committed impeachable offenses and should be removed from office. A ⅔ majority in the Senate is needed to convict the President. If Trump were to be convicted by the Senate, he would lose the opportunity to run for public office in 2024.

Prior to the impeachment vote, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had issued Vice-President Pence an ultimatum: invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment or the House will proceed with impeaching Trump. Section 4 of the 25th Amendment allows the Vice-President to temporarily assume the powers of the presidency if a majority of the Cabinet agrees that the president is unable to carry out the duties of his office. Vice-President Pence declined to invoke the amendment, arguing that “I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our nation.”

Shortly before the riots, President Trump delivered a speech in which he falsely claimed that the election was “stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats.” He encouraged his supporters to “walk down to the Capitol;” telling them that they will “never take back our country with weakness.” Toward the end of his speech, Trump told the crowd, “You have to show strength and you have to be strong.”

The riots that followed the rally left five dead, including Capitol Officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood. More than 170 individuals have been arrested, and the President has been temporarily or permanently suspended from many major social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat, and Pinterest.

55% of Americans support impeaching President Trump.

Americans are divided on whether the United States Senate should remove President Trump from office. A U.S News Poll found that 55% of Americans support impeachment efforts. However, Americans are largely split along party lines. A PBS News Hour poll found that 84% of Democrats support removing Trump from office, while 83% of Republicans oppose the efforts. Many Democrats blame Trump for the Capitol riots and believe that he should be held responsible, while Republicans largely argue that impeachment will only divide the nation more.

The nation will have to wait to see how this plays out. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has decided to postpone the Senate trial until after President-elect Biden is inaugurated on January 20th.