President Trump is the First in History to be Impeached Twice
By Yehudit Garmaise
President Trump was impeached by the US House of Representatives today after a handful Republicans joined many Democrats who blamed the outgoing commander-in-chief for inciting last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol that led to at least five deaths.
The last time President Donald Trump was impeached, just over a year ago, in December of 2019, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was the only Republican who voted to impeach, however, today, 10 Republicans have joined 232 Democrats in their vote to impeach President Donald Trump, who is now the only commander-in-chief in history to be impeached twice.
Previous to President Trump, the only U.S. presidents to be impeached were Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. As only five Democrats voted to impeach President Bill Clinton in 1998, today’s vote is being called the most “bipartisan impeachment ever,” after so many Republicans have rejected Trump.
The articles of impeachment today accuse President of “inciting violence against the government of the United States,” during last Wednesday’s rally on the Ellipse in Washington, DC, which was followed minutes later by a mob of his supporters storming the Capitol to protest the Electoral College victory of Joe Biden.
With the help of support of the 10 Republicans, the articles of impeachment are expected to easily pass the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.
The potential Senate trial would not be held until after President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20, a spokesman for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tweeted earlier Wednesday.
After Vice President Mike Pence refused to invoke the 25th Amendment and ask Trump’s cabinet to vote to remove him from office on grounds of the president being “unable” to do the job, the House moved forward with the impeachment process.
The Senate, which was controlled by Republicans when Trump was impeached last year, voted in February to acquit President Trump, who was then accused of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over allegations he tried to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce investigations that would boost his campaign against Biden.