WASHINGTON D.C. — President Donald Trump faces a single charge, “incitement of insurrection,” as House Democrats pushed forward Monday with efforts to remove him from office in his final days there.
Democrats first tried to take up a resolution urging Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment. That would have needed unanimous consent; it was blocked by Republicans.
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Here’s how it played out today on Capitol Hill:
House Clerk: “Resolution calling on Vice President Michael R. Pence to convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments of the cabinet to activate Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare President Donald J. Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers as acting president.”
Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV): “I object.”
Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton told Boston 25 News anchor Kerry Kavanaugh that impeachment sends the strongest message.
“I absolutely support it because we need to hold the President of the United States accountable to the law, and the Constitution is very straightforward: when the president breaks the law he should be impeached,” said the Democrat from Salem.
As the process moves forward, the FBI issued a dire warning Monday afternoon saying they have information about planned armed protests in D.C. and across the country ahead of the Biden inauguration on January 20.
When asked what he would say to those who oppose impeachment and those who say it’s only going to fuel the flames, Moulton responded with this:
“Look up, throughout the Trump presidency, people saying that, ‘just back off, everything will be fine.’ Remember when Susan Collins of Maine said, ‘I think Trump has learned his lesson,’ give me a break. Things have only gotten worse,” Moulton said. “This is a Commander in Chief, the first one in our entire history, who has not only failed in his most basic duty to protect Americans, to protect the government he is supposed to lead, he’s actually inciting violence against us.”
In a letter to her colleagues, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in part, “In protecting our Constitution and our Democracy, we will act with urgency, because this president represents an imminent threat to both.”
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With that, Democrats gave Vice President Pence 24 hours to respond and invoke the 25th Amendment. If not, Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (D-MA) said Monday night that the House will move forward to impeach the president on Wednesday.