WATCH LIVE: The House begins Trump impeachment debate for the second time and the Republicans split
The U.S. House have renewed the process of President Trump’s impeachment on Wednesday, with Congress urging to create a commission to study what happened on January 6 and before that instead of impeaching Trump.
The additional aim of the suggested commission is to learn how to prevent the future attacks on the Capitol Building and other government buildings. Rep Rodney Davis of Illinois said that attacks “scared all of us who were here” and showed adversaries how they could take out a branch of government.
“I can think of no more appropriate path for Congress to follow,” said Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, the top Republican on the House Rules Committee.
For the the 2nd time in 13 months, the House of Representatives pursues an article of impeachment against President Trump today on the floor
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 13, 2021
Democrats, however, insisted on impeaching Trump regardless of the intension to create the commission.
The final article of impeachment against the president accuses Trump of "incitement of insurrection."
“The President repeatedly issued false statements asserting that the Presidential election results were the product of widespread fraud and should not be accepted by the American people or certified by State or Federal officials" before holding a rally in D.C. where he "willfully made statements that, in context, encouraged—and foreseeably resulted in—lawless action at the Capitol."
The House debate on the second attempt to impeach Trump was opened by Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, who said that “we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the president of the United States.”
"I saw evil," McGovern said of the Trump-supporting mob that stormed the Capitol last week. "These were not protesters, these were not patriots, these were traitors... and they were acting under the orders of Donald Trump."
From colleague Kelly Phares. At least 5 GOPers will vote to impeach President Trump tomorrow:
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 13, 2021
Katko (R-NY)
Cheney (R-WY)
Kinzinger (R-IL)
Upton (R-MI)
Herrera Beutler (R-WA)
“America was attacked and we must respond, even when the cause of this violence resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” McGovern said. “Every moment Trump is in the White House, our nation, our freedom, is in danger.”
From Rep. Fred Upton, latest GOPer to say he will vote to impeach Trump: “Today the President characterized his inflammatory rhetoric at last Wednesday’s rally as ‘totally appropriate,’ and he expressed no regrets for last week’s violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.”
— Tyler Olson (@TylerOlson1791) January 13, 2021
During the House debate, the Republicans in both chambers of the Congress split whether to go on with the impeachment process or to wait for the final day of Trump’s presidency. As of Wednesday, at least five House members have already supported the idea of impeaching Trump.
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the House GOP conference chair, the third-highest ranking position among House Republicans, is one of those who said they’d vote to impeach.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California this week applied to his colleagues in the letter sharing his belief that the impeachment of Trump would completely divide the country.
"Personally, I continue to believe that an impeachment at this time would have the opposite effect of bringing our country together when we need to get America back on a path towards unity and civility," he said before bringing up a handful of other options for the House to denounce Trump.