Omar, others unveil Articles of Impeachment; many call to invoke the 25th Amendment.
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN), unveiled articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Thursday following a Wednesday incursion on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
According to a press release from Omar’s office, Reps. David Cicilline, Ted Lieu, Al Green, Hank Johnson, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Vicente Gonzalez, Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones, Veronica Escobar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Cori Bush co-lead the resolution. Additionally, 22 other House Democrats have signed on as co-sponsors as of 2:00 p.m. central time.
While Rep. Cicilline helped lead the charge behind the resolution that Rep. Omar unveiled, he also began circulating his own draft of Articles of Impeachment with Reps. Lieu and Raskin.
Both resolutions cite Trump’s inciting of Wednesday’s mob attack on the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., and pressuring of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the state’s certified 2020 presidential election results.
“I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Trump told Raffensperger.
Now, elected officials from both sides of the aisle are speaking out against Trump. “There’s no question the president formed the mob,” said third-highest-ranking Republican Representative Liz Cheney, “the president incited the mob, the president addressed the mob. He lit the flame.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL16) and many other high profile officials, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have called on Vice President Mike Pence and the President’s Cabinet to immediately invoke the 25th Amendment. In a press conference Thursday, Pelosi said “Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment” should the Cabinet not invoke the 25th. The Republican-leaning National Association of Manufacturers also urged Pence to work with the Cabinet on Trump’s removal.
CBS News’ Margaret Brennan reported Wednesday that “Trump Cabinet secretaries are discussing invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump. Nothing formal yet presented to VP Pence. I’m talking about actual members of the Cabinet.”
The 25th Amendment allows the Vice President and a majority of cabinet members to submit a letter to the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate if they believe the President is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Should they deliver such a message, the Vice President immediately assumes the powers and duties of the presidency as Acting President. The President may challenge the declaration with a letter of his own to the Speaker and President Pro Tempore, which can be once again challenged by the Vice President and majority of the Cabinet. After that point, the decision would fall to Congress who would hold a vote within 21 days to determine whether or not the President is fit for office. Should two-thirds of both the House and Senate believe he is unfit, the Vice President remains Acting President.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned to RubicOnline for updates.
Nikolas Liepins is the Political Correspondent and a writer/(photo)journalist for The Rubicon, RubicOnline, and Ibid Yearbook. This is his second year...