The House convened Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting a violent insurrection that — just one week earlier — stormed the U.S. Capitol, battered police officers and sent lawmakers fleeing for safety.
The charge, “willful incitement of insurrection,” is the gravest ever lodged against a sitting president.
The vote, expected in the afternoon, will be delivered in the same chamber where on Jan. 6 officers drew their guns to protect sheltering lawmakers from insurrectionists pounding at the doors. Five people were killed, including a U.S. Capitol police officer who died of injuries sustained during the riots.
“We think the president of the United States constitutes a clear and present danger to the republic,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Tuesday as the House’s lead impeachment manager to argue for Trump’s conviction in an ensuing Senate trial.
And the vote will be bipartisan. As many as a dozen Republicans are expected to join Democrats in voting to impeach Trump, including the third-ranking GOP member, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who described Trump as singularly responsible for assembling the mob that attacked the Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has privately indicated that Trump’s actions qualify him for removal from office, according to a source familiar with his thinking.