Trump riots: Democrats plan to introduce article of impeachment

House Democrats to Introduce Articles of Impeachment Against Trump

Articles to focus on riot at Capitol by Trump supporters and to accuse president of inciting an insurrection

 

Trump Acknowledges Defeat; Lawmakers Call for Removal After Capitol Riot

 

A growing number of lawmakers called for President Trump’s removal following Wednesday’s Capitol riot. And the President acknowledged his 2020 election loss in a video posted to Twitter Thursday night. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday reports on the latest. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

 

By  Catherine Lucey and Natalie Andrews

Updated Jan. 8, 2021 7:10 pm ET

 

WASHINGTON—House Democrats plan to introduce articles of impeachment against President Trump on Monday, according to two Democratic aides, as lawmakers intensified calls to remove him from office after he encouraged a mob that later stormed the Capitol in an effort to disrupt the certification of his election loss to President-elect Joe Biden.

 

More than 150 House Democrats, well over half of the caucus, have signed on to articles of impeachment written by Reps. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Ted Lieu of California and Jamie Raskin of Maryland that focus on the breach of the Capitol complex and accuse the president of inciting an insurrection. If passed, it would make Mr. Trump the first president in the nation’s history to be impeached twice.

 

“This conduct is so grave and this president presents such a clear and present danger to our democracy, I don’t think you can simply say let’s just wait it out” until Mr. Trump leaves office, said Mr. Cicilline in an interview. Mr. Biden’s inauguration is Jan. 20.

 

For up-to-the-minute coverage of the upheaval in Washington, see WSJ’s Live Updates

While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Friday the House will move to impeachment if Mr. Trump doesn’t leave office soon, though she hasn’t specifically backed the articles that lawmakers plan to introduce. Democratic leadership hasn’t scheduled a vote on the matter, and the House is on recess until after the inauguration.

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Democratic lawmakers are pushing to reconvene the House next week to vote on such a measure and send articles of impeachment to the Senate in what would be an unprecedented move in the final days of Mr. Trump’s presidency, as the fallout over the attack on the Capitol continues to reverberate throughout Washington.

 

The White House pushed back against the effort, with spokesman Judd Deere saying in a statement: “As President Trump said yesterday, this is a time for healing and unity as one nation. A politically motivated impeachment against a president, who has done a great job, with 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country.”

 

While many Republicans have heavily criticized Mr. Trump’s actions, it wasn’t clear how much support there would be in the GOP-controlled Senate for his removal—or whether House Democrats could mount such an effort with just days left in Mr. Trump’s presidency.

 

Still, the push in the House underscored the perilous moment for his administration, as cabinet officials resigned and both Democrats and Republicans criticized the president for his role in encouraging the violence after months of refusing to acknowledge his loss to Mr. Biden.

Members of the D.C. National Guard outside the U.S. Capitol building Thursday, a day after it was overrun by Trump supporters.PHOTO: JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

 

On Thursday, Mr. Trump acknowledged a new administration would begin on Jan. 20, called for calm and promised an orderly transition, but he also said on Friday that he wouldn’t attend Mr. Biden’s inauguration.

 

Mr. Trump was denied a key communication platform on Friday, as Twitter Inc. said it was permanently suspending his account, citing the risk of further incitement of violence after the attack on the Capitol. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

Mrs. Pelosi said on Friday that Democrats were ready to move forward with impeachment proceedings, and that she also spoke with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about Mr. Trump’s mental fitness.

 

“The House will preserve every option—including the 25th Amendment, a motion to impeach or a privileged resolution for impeachment,” Mrs. Pelosi said on Friday. A privileged resolution would fast track the process to a vote. She also said the House would consider legislation by Mr. Raskin that establishes a nonpartisan body that could, with the vice president, declare the president unfit for office under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.

Mrs. Pelosi has pushed Vice President Mike Pence to remove Mr. Trump with the cabinet, using the 25th Amendment, and told Democrats that is the route she would prefer, but if Mr. Pence doesn’t move, she would back impeachment.

 

Neither Mr. Pence nor any cabinet members have expressed support for using the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump.

 

Mr. Biden, when asked about the House Democratic impeachment efforts, deferred to Democratic lawmakers, calling it “a decision for the Congress to make. I’m focused on my job.” The president-elect was harshly critical of the rioters, calling them domestic terrorists, and of Mr. Trump, saying he was “not fit to serve.”

 

Mr. Biden said the “quickest way” to get Mr. Trump out of office will be when he is sworn in on Jan. 20. He added that “what action happens before or after that is a judgment for the Congress to make.”

 

He also said that Mr. Trump’s decision not to attend the inauguration was “one of the few things he and I have ever agreed on.” He said the vice president would be welcome.

 

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, center, spoke on Friday with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about what she termed ‘an unstable president.’PHOTO: ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES

 

Mrs. Pelosi on Friday also questioned Mr. Trump’s fitness for office, saying she had spoken to the Joint Chiefs chairman, Army Gen. Mark Milley, “to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.”

 

“I was assured that there are safeguards in place,” Mrs. Pelosi told Democrats on a phone call on Friday, describing Mr. Trump as unhinged, according to a person on the call.

The Pentagon acknowledged the call Friday but provided no details.

 

“Speaker Pelosi initiated a call with the chairman,” said Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Gen. Milley. “He answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority.”

 

A move to impeach the president would be the second time the Democratic-led House took such an action against Mr. Trump. The House passed articles in December 2019 related to Mr. Trump’s efforts to have Ukraine investigate Mr. Biden, and the president was acquitted by the Senate last February.

 

In order to proceed, the House would have to end its recess and reconvene and then vote on articles. It would need to pass them with a simple majority vote, and then the articles would be sent to the Senate, triggering a trial to start at the next day the Senate is in session. It would require a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to remove Mr. Trump from office. The Senate is next slated to convene on Jan. 19.

 

On a private call with House Democrats on Friday, Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), who managed Mr. Trump’s previous impeachment trial, outlined the impeachment process and said that it is important to be on the same page as Mr. Biden, according to people familiar with the call.

 

Not every House Democrat favored moving to impeachment. Rep. Kurt Schrader (D., Ore.) compared a rushed impeachment to a “lynching” and said it wouldn’t give the president due process, according to a person on the call.

 

In the Senate, some of the most centrist Democrats said it was time for Mr. Trump to leave, or be removed from office.

 

“I would support anything that could remove him between now and Jan. 20,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) said in an interview Friday. “If he is not president for the next 12 days, I think our country would be safer.”

 

Some Senate Republicans further distanced themselves from Mr. Trump on Friday. Sen. Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) said he would consider articles of impeachment, saying on CBS: “The House, if they come together and have a process, I will definitely consider whatever articles they might move.” And Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski became the first Republican senator to call for Mr. Trump to resign. “I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage,” she said in an interview with the Anchorage Daily News.

 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said that it is time to heal and move on.

“It will do more harm than good,” he said on Twitter. “I’m hopeful President-elect Biden sees the damage that would be done from such action.”

 

Hundreds of Trump supporters, pushing past security barriers and Capitol Police officers, breached the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon as both the House and Senate were meeting inside to ratify Mr. Biden’s November victory. The attack forced the evacuation of some lawmakers, while others barricaded themselves against the crowds. It followed a rally where Mr. Trump urged supporters to head to the Capitol and “fight.”

 

Mr. Pence ultimately confirmed Mr. Biden as the election winner in an overnight joint session of Congress early Thursday morning.

 

—Kristina Peterson contributed to this article.

 

The Above Article

Cited From The Wall Street Journal

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House Democrats to introduce impeachment; Twitter suspends Trump

President Donald Trump speaks at the "Stop The Steal" Rally on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Trump supporters gathered in the nation's capital today to protest the ratification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory over President Trump in the 2020 election.TASOS KATOPODIS / GETTY IMAGES

 

Twitter suspends Trump's personal account

Twitter is permanently banning President Trump from the platform, the company announced late Friday. The ban comes days after Twitter temporarily locked Mr. Trump's account.

"After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," the company said in a statement.

Read more here.

Twitter permanently suspended President Trump's account on Jan. 8, 2021 "due to the risk of further incitement of violence."TWITER

 

BY ZOE CHRISTEN JONES

 

3:08 PM

Man shown with feet on Nancy Pelosi's desk arrested in Arkansas

Richard Barnett, a supporter of President Donald Trump, sits inside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.SAUL LOEB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

 

The Arkansas man shown sitting at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk inside the U.S. Capitol this week has been taken into custody, federal authorities said Friday.

Richard Barnett, of Gravette, Arkansas, is currently being charged with at least three counts: knowingly entering and remaining in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and theft of public property, according to Ken Kohl, the principal assistant U.S. Attorney in D.C.

Photos circulated widely showing Barnett inside Pelosi's office with his feet resting on her desk. Barnett was taken into custody this morning in Little Rock.

The FBI is continuing its investigation to use tips and public photos to locate rioters. West Virginia State Delegate Derrick Evans was also taken into custody after he posted a now-deleted video showing him in the capital.

Barnett and Evans are part of 15 others facing federal charges for crimes committed during the riot.

BY ZOE CHRISTEN JONES

 

Trump riots: Democrats plan to introduce article of impeachment