House Democrats are set to vote to impeach President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Jan. 13), one week after pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol. Democrats formally introduced articles of impeachment on Monday (Jan. 11) and charged Trump with inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The impeachment article also pointed to Trump’s months-long claims of massive voter fraud in the presidential election, including a recent phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state, in which Trump urged him to “find” enough votes for him to win the state.
“In all this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government,” Democrats’ impeachment resolution reads. “He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.”
Tonight (Jan. 12), the House will vote on a resolution urging Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment in order to remove Trump — an effort that Republicans have already blocked once. Then, at 9 a.m. EST on Wednesday, the House will vote on the impeachment resolution.
Since the House of Representatives is a Democratic majority, Trump is expected to become the first president in history to be impeached twice on Wednesday. He was previously impeached in 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, but was acquitted of both by the Senate.
After Wednesday’s vote, the articles of impeachment will move on to the Senate, which would decide whether or not to remove Trump from office. However, the Senate is Republican-controlled, so a conviction is unlikely.
Republicans have urged Democrats not to pursue impeachment, arguing that impeaching Trump so close to the end of his term will further divide the country. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy instead proposed “a resolution of censure under the rules of the House” and a bipartisan commission to investigate Trump supporters’ attack on the Capitol.