A trio of House Democrats plan to introduce articles of impeachment against President Trump on Monday for incitement of insurrection following Wednesday’s riots at the U.S. Capitol.
A growing number of Republicans also want Trump to leave office before January 20, with some top lawmakers saying they are considering supporting his impeachment.
While the window is narrowing for an impeachment vote and trial before Trump’s term ends, one of the GOP lawmakers said the proceedings could be done quickly.
“We experienced the attack,” the member said. “We don’t need long hearings on what happened.”
The articles of impeachment come on the same day Twitter suspended Trump’s personal account after reviewing the tweets and “the context around them” after the assault on the U.S. Capitol.
The articles of impeachment allege Trump engaged in “high crimes and misdemeanors by willfully inciting violence against the government of the United States.”
READ: Proposed Articles Of Impeachment Against President Donald Trump: articles-of-impeachment-incitement-of-insurrection
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said today that Trump should resign the presidency immediately and that if the Republican Party cannot separate itself from Trump, she isn’t certain she has a future with the party.
“I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage,” Murkowski said during an interview from her Capitol office, steps away from the Senate chambers that were invaded by pro-Trump rioters on Wednesday.
“I think he should leave. He said he’s not going to show up. He’s not going to appear at the inauguration. He hasn’t been focused on what is going on with COVID. He’s either been golfing or he’s been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful to him under the bus, starting with the vice president. He doesn’t want to stay there. He only wants to stay there for the title. He only wants to stay there for his ego. He needs to get out. He needs to do the good thing, but I don’t think he’s capable of doing a good thing,” she said.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, has endorsed invoking the 25th Amendment.
One Republican senator, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, said in radio interviews today that he would consider impeachment, though he questioned whether that was a prudent course of action.
Even Trump’s former chief of staff retired Gen. John Kelly said that he would vote to remove Trump under the 25th Amendment if he were still in the Cabinet.
Sources say Trump does not plan to step down, but for the first time the White House has acknowledged impeachment is a real possibility, saying it would only further divide the country.
The White House on Friday called the articles of impeachment “politically motivated” and repeated Trump’s claims from the night before that he was calling for “healing and unity.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement today that it is Democrats’ “sincere hope” that Trump will “immediately resign.”
But, she said that if he does not, she is prepared to move forward on Congressman Jamie Raskin’s 25th Amendment legislation and motion for impeachment.
President-elect Joe Biden deflected when asked about it on Friday, saying it was “up to Congress to decide.”
The articles of impeachment have 150 cosponsors, a sign of the broad support among House Democrats to take action in the wake of the violence at the Capitol.
It was authored by Representatives Ted Lieu of California and David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who began drafting it while sheltering in place Wednesday in the Capitol complex.
They also worked with Raskin.
Democrats on that call were overwhelmingly supportive of the effort, with just one, Representative Kurt Schrader of Oregon, arguing that such a move would be too divisive for the country.
Pelosi also today that she had spoken to Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley about precautions that could be taken to prevent “an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a strike.”
A spokesperson for Joint Chiefs chair Mark Milley confirmed the call happened, and said he answered her questions about the process of nuclear command authority.