Four Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Monday formally introduced a single article of impeachment against President Donald Trump, claiming that he incited a mob of his supporters to launch an attack on the U.S. Capitol over what he has maintained are fraudulent election results.
Reps. David Cicilline (R.I.), Ted Lieu (Calif.), Jamie Raskin (Md.), and Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.) declared in the article that Trump “engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States.”
“Incited by President Trump, members of the crowd he had addressed, in an attempt to, among other objectives, interfere with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential election, unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President and Congressional personnel, and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts,” the impeachment article states.
In a fiery speech last Wednesday, the president spoke to hundreds of thousands of supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., to protest the results of the presidential election, calling the election “rigged” and rousing them to march over “to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make [their] voices heard” as lawmakers convened to certify the Electoral College votes.
Tragically, what ensued was a riot, as hundreds of the president’s supporters fought with police, breached security perimeters, and invaded the Capitol, leading critics to blame the president for directly stirring up the violence. Many of the president’s supporters, however, have argued that the violent riot was disconnected from his protest of the election results.
UPDATED TEXT of the Impeachment Article authored by Cicilline/Lieu/Raskin following 1/6 attack on Capitol by pro-Trump mob pic.twitter.com/RNABKCYM3d
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) January 11, 2021
“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 transfer 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,” the impeachment article continues.
In the article, the authors argue Trump “will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office.”
The introduction of the article came after Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hit Trump with an ultimatum last week: Resign immediately or face impeachment.
On Monday, Politico reported that Democrats in the House had secured enough votes to impeach Trump should it come to the floor this week.
The path following a House vote, however, remains unclear, as last week Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) signaled that an impeachment trial in the chamber could not happen until after Trump is out of office.
