Donald Trump to be accused of ‘inciting an insurrection’

Democrats plan to introduce articles of impeachment against Donald Trump on Monday as pressure grows on president.

Donald Trump faces being impeached for a second time.

House Democrats plan to introduce articles of impeachment against President Trump on Monday, according to two Democratic aides, as politicians intensified calls to remove the president from office after he encouraged a mob that later stormed the Capitol.

Meanwhile, Twitter has permanently suspended the US president’s account after he used it to encourage his supporters.

The social media platform said it was taking the move “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”.

More than 150 House Democrats, well over half of the caucus, have signed on to articles of impeachment written by Reps. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Ted Lieu of California and Jamie Raskin of Maryland that focus on the breach of the Capitol complex and accuse the president of inciting an insurrection.

“This conduct is so grave and this president presents such a clear and present danger to our democracy, I don’t think you can simply say let’s just wait it out” until the president leaves office, said Mr. Cicilline in an interview.

President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration is Jan. 20.

White House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she backs moving to impeachment if Mr Trump does not leave office soon, she has not specifically backed the articles that politicians plan to introduce. Democratic leadership has not scheduled a vote on the matter, and the House is on recess until after the inauguration.

Democratic politicians are pushing to reconvene the House next week to vote on such a measure and send articles of impeachment to the Senate in what would be an unprecedented move in the final days of Mr. Trump’s presidency as the fallout over the attack on the Capitol continues to reverberate throughout Washington.

The White House pushed back against the effort, with spokesman Judd Deere saying in a statement: “As President Trump said yesterday, this is a time for healing and unity as one nation. A politically motivated impeachment against a president with 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country.”

While many Republicans have heavily criticised Mr. Trump’s actions, it wasn’t clear how much support there would be among GOP politicians for impeachment — or whether Democrats could mount such an effort with just days left in Mr. Trump’s presidency.

Still, the push underscored the perilous moment for his administration, as cabinet officials resigned and both Democrats and Republicans criticised the president for his role in encouraging the violence after months of refusing to acknowledge his loss to Mr. Biden.

Wall St Journal

What the Articles of Impeachment say

CNN has published a portion of the latest version of the articles of impeachment that will be formally introduced by House Judiciary Democrats on Monday, provided by a Democratic source. It includes one article: “incitement of insurrection.”

“President Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021 was consistent with his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election. Those prior efforts include, but are not limited to, a phone call on January 2, 2021, in which President Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to ‘‘find’’ enough votes to overturn the Georgia presidential election results and threatened Mr. Raffensperger if he failed to do so. In all of this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperilled a coordinate branch of government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.”

The article continues:

“Wherefore President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honour, trust, or profit under the United States.”

Biden welcomes Trumps inauguration snub

President-elect Joe Biden has welcomed Donald Trump’s decision to snub his inauguration on January 20, calling it a “good thing.”

Earlier today Mr Trump, who on Friday finally conceded he has lost the election, tweeted that he wouldn’t attend the swearing in – the first president in modern history to do so.

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” he tweeted.

To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021

Mr Biden, who had previously said he would welcome Mr Trump at his inauguration, said he had changed his mind in recent days after the violence at the Capitol. “That is one of the few things he and I have ever agreed on,” he said. “He has exceeded my worst (fears). He’s an embarrassment to this country.”

He said, however, that he would welcome Vice-President Mike Pence at the ceremony.

Mr Biden said many Republicans were “as embarrassed as I am” about Mr Trump’s behaviour.

However he refused to support impeachment so close to January 20. Democrats are reportedly preparing to present Articles of Impeachment on Monday with a Congress vote on Wednesday,

“If we were six months out I’d say we should do anything to get him out of office,” he said. “But I am focused now on us taking control.”

The president’s announcement came a day after he conceded the election for the first time, after months of false claims that he was denied re-election due to fraud. He also said he would support a peaceful transition of power.

pic.twitter.com/csX07ZVWGe

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021

Former president George W. Bush, a Republican, is expected to attend Mr Biden’s inauguration, while Jimmy Carter will not attend.

Mr Trump’s 2016 inauguration was attended by his predecessor Barack Obama, as well as former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Only three presidents have snubbed their successor’s swearing-in: John Adams in 1801, his son John Quincy Adams in 1829 and Andrew Johnson, a Democrat who refused to attend the 1869 inauguration after he was replaced in favour of Republican Ulysses S. Grant.

Barack Obama (R) greets President-elect Donald Trump as he arrives on the platform at the US Capitol in Washington, DC for his inauguration in 2017. Picture: AFP.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said Democrats would move forward with impeachment proceedings if Mr Trump did not resign and hand power to Mr Pence.

“If the president does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action,” Mrs. Pelosi said in a letter to House Democrats on Friday.

CNN reports Democrats are preparing to present Articles of Impeachment as early as Monday.

Ms Pelosi said she had spoken with the Joint Chiefs of Staff about Mr Trump’s mental fitness after he encouraged his supporters to move on the Capitol, and remained silent for hours as they broke into senators’ offices, breaking furniture and scattering files. The riots led to the deaths of five people, including a Capitol police officer and a Trump supporter who was shot at close range.

In her letter, Ms Pelosi invoked Richard Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal, when Republicans prevailed on the president to resign rather than face the ignominy of being impeached.

“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 wrote, describing Mr Trump’s actions as a “horrific assault on our democracy.”

Nancy Pelosi is pressuring Donald Trump to resign. Picture: AFP.

Democrats are pushing for the House to reconvene next week to vote and send articles of impeachment to the Senate. The earliest this could happen would be the middle of next week, just one week before Mr Biden’s inauguration.

Ms Pelosi has said she would rather see Mr Pence invoke the 5th but reportedly Mr Pence is not taking calls from those pushing this approach.

The Speaker also spoke with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley on Friday “to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.” “

We must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy,” wrote Mrs. Pelosi, who didn’t say in the letter how Gen. Milley had responded.

The Pentagon’s Joint Staff acknowledged the call Friday but provided no details.

“Speaker Pelosi initiated a call with the chairman,” said Colonel Dave Butler, a spokesman for Gen. Milley. “He answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority.”

A presidential impeachment in such a short time frame would be unprecedented. The House would have to end its recess and reconvene and then vote on articles, in order to act quickly. It would need to pass with a simple majority vote, and then the articles would be sent to the Senate, triggering an automatic trial to start at 1pm the next day. It would require a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to remove Mr. Trump from office.

Mrs Pelosi told Democrats she had a call scheduled with Mr. Biden Friday to discuss the riot at the Capitol and Democrats’ desire to remove Mr. Trump from office, according to two people familiar with the matter.

There is some pushback against the idea of impeachment, amid concerns it would only divide the country further.

Top House Republican Kevin McCarthy said that while the riots of Thursday was “unacceptable (and) undemocratic,” the House minority leader said that “impeaching the president with just 12 days left in his term will only divide our country more.”

Mr McCarthy, one of the most powerful Trump loyalists in Congress throughout his four-year term, said he reached out Friday to President-elect Joe Biden and planned to “speak to him about how we must work together to lower the temperature and unite the country to solve America’s challenges.”

The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021

Despite Mr Trump’s concession, he has continued to praise the “75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me,” telling them in his address that “our journey is just beginning.”

Dow Jones, AFP