Donald Trump impeachment: A chaotic presidency doomed to end in disgrace
Donald Trump will leave White House after being impeached for second time amid growing anger over Capitol riot.
Donald Trump will leave the White House in disgrace after being impeached for the second time amid growing anger across America for his role in inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol.
Mr Trump’s public approval ratings have nosedived to record lows with key Republican loyalists turning on the President, leaving him an isolated and diminished figure as he serves out his last days in office.
The historic impeachment vote was taken amid extraordinary security as armed National Guard troops roamed the corridors of the Capitol that was the scene of riots last week in which five people died.
Ten Republicans broke ranks to vote to impeach the President, with the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives voting 232 to 197 that he committed high crimes and misdemeanours for an “incitement of insurrection”. The vote was the most bipartisan of any previous impeachment.
There have now been four presidential impeachments: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998 and Mr Trump in 2019 and 2021, making him the only president to be impeached twice.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 13, 2021
After the vote, Mr Trump released a video in which he made no reference to his impeachment but instead denounced violence and called on his supporters to ensure that any future demonstrations are peaceful.
“Mob violence goes against everything I believe in and everything our movement stands for,” Mr Trump said in comments that contrasted with his praise for the Capitol protesters last week.
“No true supporters of mine could ever endorse political violence. No true supporter of mine could disrespect law enforcement or our great American flag. No true supporter of mine could ever threaten or harass their fellow Americans. If you do any of these things, you are not supporting our movement — you are attacking it.”
Mr Trump’s comments were an attempt to stem the steep fall in his popularity since the Capitol siege. A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll found that Mr Trump’s approval rating has dived to just 34 per cent, his lowest in four years, with a record 63 per cent of voters disapproving of his performance.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Mr Trump would not face a trial in the Senate until after Joe Biden was inaugurated as president on Thursday next week (AEDT).
“Even if the Senate process were to begin this week and move promptly, no final verdict would be reached until after President Trump had left office,” Senator McConnell said, ensuring that a Senate trial will take place when Democrats have the narrow majority in the upper house.
But Senator McConnell, previously a staunch Trump ally, did not confirm how he would vote in a trial amid reports that he believed the President deserved to be impeached.
Democrats would need 17 Republican senators to vote to convict Mr Trump.
Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer confirmed there would be an impeachment trial in the Senate, which he said would be aimed at ensuring Mr Trump was banned from ever running for president again.
President-elect Joe Biden said he hoped the Senate would juggle the impeachment trial with the other “urgent business of this nation”.
“This criminal attack was planned and co-ordinated. It was carried out by political extremists and domestic terrorists, who were incited to this violence by President Trump,” Mr Biden said.
“It was an armed insurrection against the United States of America. And those responsible must be held accountable.
“Today, the members of the House of Representatives exercised the power granted to them under our constitution and voted to impeach and hold the President accountable. It was a bipartisan vote cast by members who followed the constitution and their conscience.”
Democrat house Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the President “a clear and present danger” to the country. “Today, in a bipartisan way the house demonstrated that no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” she said. Earlier in the house she said: “We know that the President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion against our common country. He must go, he is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.
“Those insurrectionists were not patriots. They were not part of a political base to be catered to and managed. They were domestic terrorists and justice must prevail.”
Ten Republicans, including the third-ranking house Republican Liz Cheney, voted in favour of impeachment in a sign of how far Mr Trump’s stocks have fallen in his own party since the Capitol riots.
Those Republicans who voted to impeach the President included Ms Cheney, John Katko, Fred Upton, Adam Kinzinger, Jaime Beutler and Dan Newhouse.
Mr Trump’s supporters in the house used the debate to attack the impeachment process, saying it was political in nature and would further divide the country.
“They want to cancel the President,” Republican and Trump ally Jim Jordan said.
“It’s about politics. This is about getting the President of the United States … it’s always been about getting the President no matter what. It’s an obsession.”
Democrats pursued impeachment after the Vice-President Mike Pence refused calls to invoke the 25th Amendment to immediately remove the President on the grounds he was unfit for office.
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