The U.S. House of Representatives is voting Wednesday on the unprecedented second impeachment of President Donald Trump. Democrats hold a majority in the chamber and have enough votes to approve impeachment on their own, but they are being joined by a growing number of Republicans. */
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WATCH LIVE: US House of Representatives floor proceedingsCongresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler announced late Tuesday she would vote in favor of impeachment, saying in a statement Trump “acted against his oath of office.” “The President of the United States incited a riot aiming to halt the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next,” Herrera Beutler said. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a member of the Republican Party’s House leadership team, said in explaining her support for impeachment there “has never been a greater betrayal” by a U.S. president. The other Republicans who said they would vote to impeach Trump include Congressmen John Katko, Adam Kinzinger and Fred Upton. Third House Republican to vote for #impeachmenthttps://t.co/HxQPJ9VVtV— Katherine Gypson (@kgyp) January 12, 2021Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, center, leads a meeting to consider a resolution calling on Vice President Pence to activate the 25th Amendment to declare President Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office, Jan. 12, 2020.The 223-205 vote was almost entirely along party lines.Even before the House voted Tuesday, Pence sent a letter to Pelosi explaining he would not take action under the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows for the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare a president unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution,” Pence wrote. “Last week, I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation.”The impeachment resolution cites Trump’s unfounded accusations that he was cheated out of a second term by voting and vote-counting irregularities, his pressure on election officials in the southern state of Georgia to “find” him more than 11,000 votes to overtake Biden’s margin of victory in the state, and his statements at a rally last Wednesday urging thousands of supporters to march to the Capitol to pressure lawmakers to overturn the election outcome.Biden said it is his “hope and expectation” that the Senate could simultaneously hold an impeachment trial and confirm his Cabinet appointments after he takes office, while also approving more aid for the flagging U.S. economy weakened by the soaring coronavirus pandemic.He said Monday of the rioters, “It is critically important that there’ll be a real serious focus on holding those folks who engaged in sedition and threatening the lives, defacing public property, caused great damage — that they be held accountable.”
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