U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.Photo: SCOTT APPLEWHITE/POOL/AFP via Getty
Speaker of the HouseNancy Pelosisaid Friday that the House will move forward with articles of impeachment if Trump does not “immediately resign.”
Pelosi, 80,issued a statementafter an hours-long meeting with the House Democratic Caucus that she described as “sad, moving and patriotic.”
“It is the hope of Members that the President will immediately resign. But if he does not, I have instructed the Rules Committee to be prepared to move forward with Congressman Jamie Raskin’s 25th Amendment legislation and a motion for impeachment,” Pelosi’s statement said.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks during a joint session of Congress after they reconvened to certify the Electoral College votes of the 2020 presidential election in the House chamber.CAROLINE BREHMAN/getty
“Accordingly, the House will preserve every option – including the25th Amendment, a motion to impeach or a privileged resolution for impeachment,” the statement concluded. “With great respect, our deliberations will continue.”
Earlier on Friday, Pelosisent a letterto House Democrats that said “there is growing momentum around the invocation of the 25th Amendment.”
She said that she and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had called Vice President Pence about the possibility, adding that they “still hope to hear from him as soon as possible with a positive answer as to whether he and the Cabinet will honor their oath to the Constitution and the American people.”
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Pence, 61, isreportedly opposedto invoking the 25th Amendment, but other top Republicans reportedly beganfloating the ideaas early as Wednesday evening.
Pelosi suggested in her letter that after Wednesday’s riot, Trump should resign — similar to Richard Nixon, who resigned following the Watergate Scandal.
“Today, following the President’s dangerous and seditious acts, Republicans in Congress need to follow that example and call on Trump to depart his office – immediately,” she said. “If the President does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action.”
Members of Congress evacuate the House Chamber on Wednesday.Drew Angerer/Getty
She added that she had spoken with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Mille,y about “preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a memo Friday that said the earliest impeachment trial proceedings could begin would be January 19 — just one day before President-electJoe Biden’s inauguration — unless all 100 senators agree to act on received articles of impeachment beforehand, theWashington Postreported.
The senate currently has two pro forma sessions scheduled for January 12 and 15.
“Again, it would require the consent of all 100 Senators to conduct any business of any kind during the scheduled pro forma sessions prior to January 19, and therefore the consent of all 100 Senators to begin acting on any articles of impeachment during those sessions,” the memo said, according to thePost.
While some lawmakers — like Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) — have expressed concern that impeaching Trump with less than two weeks left before Biden is inaugurated will “only divide our country more,” others have said that it is an important precedent to set moving forward.
“Some people ask: Why would you impeach and convict a president who has only a few days left in office?” Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT)tweetedFriday. “The answer: Precedent. It must be made clear that no president, now or in the future, can lead an insurrection against the U.S. government.”
source: people.com
