US House of Representatives takes steps to remove President Trump

The United States  House of Representatives plans to move expeditiously this week in their efforts to remove President Donald Trump from office over his role in inciting his supporters to attack the Congress last week.

In a letter to the Democratic caucus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pointed to efforts that were underway to pass a resolution later today calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and rally the Cabinet to relieve the President of his duties.

If the Vice President fails to respond to the House’s efforts within 24 hours, it will proceed with introducing Articles of Impeachment for abuse of power and incitement of insurrection.

Donald Trump faces the prospect of being the first US President in history to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives with Speaker Nancy Pelosi writing to her caucus on Sunday stating that they will act with urgency because the President represents an imminent threat to the Constitution and the country’s Democracy:

-A House move to request unanimous consent on a resolution calling on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment failed due to objections from Republicans.

-The House will now move to a vote on the said resolution.

-If the VP doesn’t respond within 24 hours, the House will move to an impeachment vote, as early as Wednesday.

“In calling for this seditious act, the President has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people. I join the Senate Democratic Leader in calling on the Vice President to remove this President by immediately invoking the 25th Amendment. If the Vice President and Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment,” said Pelosi.

With just nine days left in office, the timeline to impeach and go to trial is limited but precedent does exist for a Senate trial to occur even after President Trump has left office.

“It’s my expectation that on Monday, a privileged resolution will be introduced that will charge the president of the United States with inciting sedition. The vehicle of a privileged resolution will allow the House to move expeditiously to consider the article of impeachment on the floor of the House of Representatives to vote it out and send it over to the Senate without having to go through a traditional Judiciary Committee mark-up,” explained Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Hakeem Jeffries.

The tide against the incumbent is not limited to political action with private social media companies including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok among others banning the President from their platforms over concerns that he will continue to incite violence – while tech giants Amazon, Apple, and Google have cut ties with Parle,  a conservative alternative to Twitter, over similar concerns.

“President Trump sought to overturn the results of an election, and of a fair election. He sought a coup by misleading people with lies. My father and our neighbours were misled, also with lies, and I know where such lies lead. President Trump is a failed leader. He will go down in history as the worst president ever. The good thing is that he will soon be as irrelevant as an old tweet,” says Actor and former Republican Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The leader of America’s closest neighbour and among their largest trading partners didn’t hold back.

“I’d like to begin by addressing what unfolded in Washington, D.C. this week. What we witnessed was an assault on democracy by violent rioters incited by the current president and other politicians. As shocking, deeply disturbing, and, frankly, saddening as that event remains, we’ve also seen this week that democracy is resilient in America, our closest ally and neighbor. Violence has no place in our societies and extremists will not succeed in overruling the will of the people,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

President Trump’s supporters protest at Capitol Hill: 

Earlier, President-Elect Joe Biden deflected when asked if he supported the impeachment, saying he’d leave it to the Congress to decide just days ahead of his own inauguration on 20 January.