House Will Move to Impeach Trump in Aftermath of Deadly Attack on the Capitol
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi informed her colleagues on Sunday that she would move to vote on a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Donald Trump from office in the remaining days of his presidency. The vice president would be required to respond within 24 hours, after which impeachment legislation would be introduced.
An impeachment vote could come as early as Wed., Jan. 13, assuming Pence does not invoke the 25th Amendment provisions intended to remove a president who was unable to discharge his or her duties. A Senate trial in all likelihood could not begin before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
There is interest in pursuing an impeachment trial even after Trump is no longer president because a conviction would bar him from holding elective federal office ever again. However, many Democrats are wary of a time-consuming impeachment trial that would delay or distract from President Biden’s first months in office, responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the economic stimulus measures he would propose.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s non-voting member, plans to introduce a resolution to censure Trump as an alternative to impeachment, stating that it was “the only immediate viable remedy” that would “not delay President-elect Biden’s agenda in the Senate.”