Category: Democrats

House has the votes to impeach Trump—again

Posted on by Joan McCarter

The House of Representatives is moving toward the second impeachment of Donald Trump and consensus has emerged among leadership that they need to do it fast. They now have the 218 votes needed to get it done, though the week's proceedings could be complicated by the COVID-19 infections that resulting from the Jan. 6 attack, when many Republicans refused to wear masks to protect the colleagues they were sheltering with. If anything slows this effort down at this point, it will be the pandemic.

On Monday, leaders got the ball rolling when Majority Leader Steny Hoyer attempted to get unanimous consent for the House to pass a resolution demanding Vice President Mike Pence invoke the 25th Amendment to strip power from Trump. A West Virginia Republican objected, though it's worth noting he did so based on process rather than substantive grounds. There might be a dawning realization among at least some of them that they can't publicly defend what happened. At this point, the plan is for them to formally introduce and pass that same resolution Tuesday, giving Pence 24 hours to respond before moving to an impeachment vote Wednesday. But there might be momentum to move that timeline up.

Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat who has taken the lead in getting signatures on the impeachment resolution, told The Washington Post's Greg Sargent, "The whole reason for moving forward is the fact that every single minute this person stays in the White House presents a clear and present danger to our democracy. […] Most House Democrats believe he should be removed as quickly as possible." He argued against Rep. James Clyburn's suggestion that the House wait until President-elect Joe Biden's first 100 days are done before sending the resolution over to the Senate.

"This is an attack unlike we’ve ever seen on the very foundations of our democracy," Cicilline told Sargent. "The American people saw this playing out in real time, and the visuals were so powerful that I think there's growing pressure on the Republicans to do something." He's backed by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and by Rep. Adam Schiff, who told CBS News, "If we impeach him this week […] it should immediately be transmitted to the Senate and we should try the case as soon as possible. […] Mitch McConnell has demonstrated when it comes to jamming Supreme Court justices through the Congress, he can move with great alacrity when he wants to."

That's arguing that there's a possibility of pressuring Senate Majority Leader McConnell, which is not impossible but unlikely. The only public comment McConnell has given following Wednesday's attack on the Capitol—on his own institution—and Trump's incitement of insurrection is a memo sent Friday to Senate Republicans saying the earliest the Senate could act is Jan. 19, one day before the inauguration. That's not actually true, as Schiff says. If McConnell wanted to bring the Senate back, he could.

With the FBI warning of further domestic terrorism and violence over the next week and during planned Jan. 17 rallies in D.C. and state capitals, there might be an awakening among Senate Republicans that they've got to do something. It's not a safe bet, but three Senate Republicans—Pat Toomey, Lisa Murkowski, and Ben Sasse—have said Trump has to go. Toomey and Sasse say they would consider articles of impeachment, but they're not sure there's enough time, and Murkowski wants him to resign.

There's another call Monday among House Democrats that could speed up Pelosi's timeline. The momentum to act grows by the minute, at least among House members.

Monday, Jan 11, 2021 · 7:35:03 PM +00:00 · Joan McCarter

It’s official. The 25th Amendment vote will be Tuesday, impeachment Wednesday. 

House starts the impeachment ball rolling Monday, with vote expected by Wednesday

Posted on by Joan McCarter

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi laid out the week's efforts to dislodge Donald Trump from the Oval Office in a Sunday letter. The House will be in a pro forma session Monday, during which Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will introduce a resolution directing Vice President Mike Pence to "convene and mobilize the Cabinet to activate the 25th Amendment to declare the President incapable of executing the duties of his office." Since Pence hasn't even bothered to return her phone call from Thursday, they do this with no expectation that he will act.

They are also doing it with the expectation that a Republican will reject Hoyer's request for unanimous consent to bring up the resolution. The plan as of now is for the resolution to be brought to the floor Tuesday for a vote, giving Pence 24 hours for a response. Which they won't get but which would trigger the impeachment vote. "In protecting our Constitution and our Democracy, we will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat to both," Pelosi wrote. "As the days go by, the horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action," she continued.

The impeachment vote is expected by Wednesday, and as of Sunday night there were 210 Democrats, out of 222 in the caucus, who signed on to one of the impeachment resolutions. The impeachment resolution asserts that Trump would "remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution" if he is not removed. It will charge him with inciting an insurrection. "In all this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government," the resolution says. "He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition 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."

House members have been instructed to return to D.C. by Tuesday, and leaders are working with the Federal Air Marshal Service and Capitol police on a plan to keep members safe as they return to D.C. and move back into the Capitol and their offices after Wednesday's attack.

In her letter, Pelosi also announced a Caucus call for Monday, during which she expects to discuss "the 25th Amendment, 14th Amendment Section 3 and impeachment." It's that middle bit—the 14th Amendment Section 3—that is significant:

"No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."

That's how the Congress expels insurrectionists, which is now the majority of House Republicans and eight Senate Republicans who voted to overturn election results even after Trump' mob invaded and vandalized the People's House, intent on hunting down and assassinating congressional leadership. Freshman Democratic Rep. Cori Bush will introduce a resolution to expel those members Monday.

The first order, however is getting rid of Trump, Rep. Jim Clyburn said on Fox News Sunday. "If we are the people's house, let's do the people's work and let's vote to impeach this president. … The Senate will decide later what to do with that—an impeachment." What happens after that vote isn't entirely clear. Clyburn argued on CNN, also on Sunday, that the Senate should wait until after President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. "Let's give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running," he said.

Senate Majority Leader (for the next 10 days or so) Mitch McConnell hasn't spoken about plans, but his former chief of staff Josh Holmes, who also runs his PACs, tweeted Sunday "The more time, images, and stories removed from Wednesday the worse it gets. If you're not in a white hot rage over what happened by now you're not paying attention." Whether or not that translates into McConnell acting, who knows.

The third branch of government, the courts, have also weighed in—or more aptly declined to do so. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a motion from Trump to fast-track consideration of the multiple lawsuits he has seeking to overturn the election. The court is not going to hear his cases before the inauguration, if ever, making this the 63rd time Trump has lost in court.

Harrowing attack steels Democrats ahead of uniquely consequential era of U.S. governance

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

If anyone ever doubted that American democracy was at least temporarily saved by voters defeating Donald Trump at the ballot box, they can lay that lingering doubt to rest. 

Just as people on the left have been warning for more than four years, Trump provided incontrovertible proof this week that he is an unmoored menace to society, an existential threat to the country, and a danger to the entire globe.

In fact, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a letter Friday morning reassuring her Democratic colleagues that she had spoken with military leadership about safeguarding the country's nuclear stockpile from Trump, it was likely as much about reassuring the world that someone reasonable was in charge as it was about comforting the American people.  

“This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike,” Pelosi relayed. "The situation of this unhinged president could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy."

Jan. 6, 2021 will live in infamy—as will the four years in which Republican lawmakers coddled a would-be dictator who grew so confident in his iron grip on power that he ultimately declared war on the very government under his command. The absolutely harrowing episode has so far resulted in five deaths, including one Capitol Police officer who died of injuries he sustained during the violent insurrection incited by Trump and his henchmen. But it could have been far far worse. The military gear donned by the terrorists, the zip ties or "flex cuffs" some carried, and the gallows the mob erected outside the Capitol left no doubt they were there for blood. Nearly the entire line of succession was in the buildings they stormed—Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley, all of whom were whisked away to a secure location.

But as Rep. Sean Maloney of New York later explained on MSNBC, the rioters were one door away from capturing any number of congressional members in the Speaker’s Lobby as lawmakers made their way to the only remaining escape route in the building. The Washington Post obtained video of the scene, capturing the tense moment that resulted in the fatal shooting of one rioter without getting overly graphic. Other lawmakers, congressional staff, and journalists also narrowly escaped injury or being taken hostage as they huddled in offices and congressional chambers, sometimes donning gas masks and hugging the floor for cover. In essence, the nation was one door, one gunshot, one execution away from a moment where no one could have earthly known what would come next. And as dangerous as the territory is that we are now in, that precarious moment of unknowing easily could have precipitated a far more perilous period for our country and the world. 

And yet, within the same 24-hour period surrounding this riotous assault on U.S. governance, Democrats clinched the 50th Senate seat that secured their impending control of both chambers of Congress, while congressional lawmakers still managed to certify 306 electoral votes ensuring President-elect Joe Biden will indeed become commander in chief at noon on Jan. 20. 

At the same time, the Republican Party has been indefinitely thrown into an epic tailspin. Its future leadership is an open question. Its electoral viability is a complete mystery after the party managed to lose the House, Senate, and White House in a period of four years. Will Trump voters still show up at the polls in future elections? Will conservative-leaning suburbanites stick with a party that aided and abetted a president who sicced a violent mob on the U.S. Capitol? Maybe that's why the GOP is currently splitting up between staunch pro-seditionists and those who are abruptly and belatedly advocating for a break with Trump after four years of helping him destroy the country's Democratic norms at every possible turn. 

If there's a silver lining in all this upheaval, it's that Democrats are finally at the point where (forgive me) they seem to have no f'cks left to give. Instead of a lengthy internal debate over whether it makes sense to impeach a president who literally tried to get them killed while overthrowing the government, they are ploughing ahead, electoral consequences be damned. That's a far cry from where they started the week, with some top congressional Democrats expressing their hope to simply move beyond any lingering investigations of Trump and his administration. But Trump's deadly meltdown paired with the GOP's feckless refusal to confront his unfitness for office seems to have finally pushed Democratic lawmakers over the brink. 

Democrats coalesced around removing Trump from office by any means possible within 24 hours of the siege. They immediately pressured Pence and Trump's Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment. After Pence failed to even return the phone calls placed by Democratic leaders Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, Pelosi told House Democrats impeachment articles would be introduced on Monday. 

In a teaser clip of Pelosi's 60 Minutes interview set to air on Sunday, Pelosi went further than removal, calling for prosecution of Trump.

“Sadly, the person running the Executive Branch is a deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States and it will be a number of days until we can be protected from him," Pelosi told Lesley Stahl, adding that "nothing" was off the table. "He has done something so serious that there should be a prosecution against him."

Outside of Trump and his cultists, absolutely no one wanted the horrific events that unfolded this week to take place. It was one of the darkest and most shameful moments in U.S. history. But the unimaginable episode also appears to have inspired a resolve among congressional Democrats that could prove a game changer heading into an era that may arguably be among the most consequential years of U.S. governance since the years surrounding the Civil Rights movement, the Great Depression, and even the Civil War.  

Watch the teaser for Pelosi’s 60 Minutes interview: 

NEWS: Nancy Pelosi calls for President Trump to be prosecuted. This is a preview of a @60Minutes interview airing this Sunday on CBS. ‘Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls President Trump “deranged, unhinged, dangerous” and says he should be prosecuted. Lesley Stahl reports’ pic.twitter.com/tXbiG7VwJU

— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) January 9, 2021

Had Republicans even shreds of principle or spine, they’d be joining calls for impeachment. As if.

Posted on (Updated by Meteor Blades

A handful of elected Republicans—most notably Adam Kinzinger—have taken a stand in favor of giving the squatter in the White House the 25th Amendment treatment and ousting him from power. This is happening against the backdrop of some Cabinet members resigning to get themselves out of having to vote on the amendment so they can launch the process of scraping the Trump taint off their résumés and reputations. Given that Vice President Mike Pence is a key character in the process and has said he doesn’t favor employing the 25th, that preemptive approach to dumping this dangerous man is off the table anyway.

The only remaining option—other than letting Trump serve out his term doing who knows what new damage to the nation in the dozen days he has left to muck things up—is impeachment No. 2. Democrats met today to discuss how to move forward. So far, 159 of them in the House (71% of the Democratic caucus) and 22 in the Senate (not quite half the caucus there) have made their support for impeachment clear.They are serious with good reason. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi noted at a caucus meeting today, she has asked the Joint Chiefs chairman for options to prevent “an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.” On Monday, they’ll be voting on a single article of impeachment, the charge being “inciting violence against the government of the United States." 

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If the Republican Party were made up of a majority of principled men and women, as is regularly asserted by its apologists, there ought to be a deluge of its congressional delegations joining those Democrats in seeking impeachment. But—and I know readers will be shocked and surprised—they aren’t.

Kinzinger has said “maybe” to backing impeachment. Sen. Mitt Romney hasn’t gone that far, but he seems like a possible “yes.” He was the only Republican senator to cast a vote to convict Trump during his impeachment a year ago, accusing him of "an appalling abuse of the public trust," an assessment that looks exceedingly mild given what has happened in the 12 months since then. The only Republican who voted for articles of impeachment in the House was Justin Amash. But he is no longer in the party nor in Congress. 

Okay, sure, there are differences in the depth of toadiness congressional Republicans have stooped to during the past four years. But even those few who haven’t been in the gang of cringing, fawning, bootlicking ass-kissers haven’t genuinely challenged Trump on any matter of importance. There’s no need for guessing why. Cowardice ranks right up there. But mostly it’s because they love what Trump has been doing to the courts, to the environment, to taxes, to voting rights, and on and on through the lengthy roster. It’s the extremist Republican agenda that’s been half a century in the making. He’s fulfilling some of the right-wing wishes unachieved by Ronald Reagan and the Bushes. 

Yes, some of today’s Republicans see him as flamboyantly vulgar, egotistical above average, immensely slothful, laudatory of Nazis, ignorant of details, recklessly inciting, and viciously begrudging, but damn, he gets stuff done that the party wants done. And for added benefit, Trump stands firm against the demands of people of color and pisses off Democrats on a daily basis. Because they know full well they’ll be on his shit-list if they cross him in any way, they aren’t even willing to risk that for the 12 days he’ll remain in office if not removed by the Senate.

It’s started already, but soon, among the Republican Party’s timeservers on the make, the effort to cleanse themselves of the fecal Trump scent will be in full swing. Lindsey Graham will be telling voters he has never heard of the man. But most of the toadies will keep toadying. Given that 74 million Americans voted for Trump, it remains to be seen which campaign method will succeed.

If they’re genuinely serious about even partially redeeming themselves, of decontaminating, Republicans could make themselves a helluva lot more convincing in coming years to the majority of Americans by reaching across the aisle and signing up now with the Democratic impeachers. They won’t. They have neither the principles nor the guts for it. And those are key reasons our nation is in the several predicaments afflicting it.

Some critics argue that the Republican Party is dead. That Trump has killed it. Such prognostications aren’t new, but they are premature. What will happen, as anybody who lived through 2020 is all too well aware, is unpredictable. But if the end does come, Republican unwillingness to have stood up against Trump—even in the face of an armed assault on the Capitol that left five dead and Congress sheltering in place like third-graders practicing “active shooter” drills—will certainly have provided some nails in the party’s coffin.

This is no drill, Republicans. Take the first step in proving you won’t be as corrupt and evil and lickspittle as you have been by getting on board and helping evict Trump. Until then, spare us from hearing any of you dare to call yourself a patriot.

The second impeachment of Trump will begin on Monday

Posted on by Joan McCarter

House Democrats met by conference call Friday, the outcome of which is articles of impeachment against Donald Trump will be ready to be introduced on Monday. A source told Reuters the articles drafted by Representatives David Cicilline, Ted Lieu, and Jamie Raskin will be introduced in Monday's pro forma session. There will likely be an objection from Republicans, so they probably will have to bring the whole House back to bring the resolution formally Tuesday or Wednesday.

A draft of the measure charges Trump with "inciting violence against the government of the United States" in his effort to overturn the results seating President-elect Joe Biden. The articles also cite Trump's efforts to get Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" the votes to give the state to him. "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 transition of power and imperiled a coordinate branch of government," the draft legislation states. "President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States, [emphasis added]" it concludes. That says it all.

Asked about the effort at a press conference Friday, Biden said that he's long thought Trump was unfit for office and that was a key reason for his run. He added "What the Congress decides to do is for them to decide. … So we're going to do our job, and Congress can decide how to proceed with theirs." Pressed again on what he would advise congressional leaders, Biden said "I'd tell them that's a decision for the Congress to make. I'm focused on my job." As he should be.

This is a decision for Congress, and it's vitally important that they move forward with it. Not just to make sure Trump is barred from ever holding office again. Not just to make sure that no Republican president ever, ever tries this again in the future. Not just to hold all of the Republicans in Congress who have participated in this sedition accountable, forcing them to face the American people and vote.

To make the country whole again. To restore the rule of law. For that effort, thank you to every Democratic member of Congress responsible.

It is well past time to confront the truth of the Republican Party’s threat to democracy

Posted on by RETIII

Watching the depressing and alarming spectacle of 17 Republican state attorneys general joining Texas’s bad faith, frivolous Supreme Court application to overturn the election in favor of Donald Trump, I am reminded that in September 2015, I wrote a post titled “The Dark Truth of John Boehner’s Resignation.”

What was that “dark truth”?

What is important here is not that Republicans object to the limits of their power, but that Republicans apparently cannot accept that such limits even exist. 

It sounds crazy, I know, but this represents the true "dark side" of Boehner's resignation: It is another significant step in the Republican Party's shocking withdrawal from our system of democratic governance.  

Five years ago, the notion that Republicans were abandoning democracy was considered to be a somewhat important observation, something to be widely shared and discussed. Today? Well, let’s consider a few of the developments since 2015.

Folks, this is insane. It’s an open, ongoing assault on the fundamental tenets of this country, unseen since the run up to the Civil War. 

Admittedly, defeating this Republican problem is hard and complex, and viable solutions will take discussions longer than this one post. But allow me to propose we rediscover an essential concept: scandal.

The first and necessary step back requires that our country, our politics, and our media rediscover how to label, report, and resist scandalous behavior. Remember Watergate? Whitewater? Benghazi? None of them compares to this threat to democracy (yes, not even Watergate).  

That means reporting this for what it is, and not inviting any co-conspirators on for polite interviews. It means having a panel of historians and civic leaders on, regularly, to discuss the scandal, not a D-list of political hacks. It means consistent front page reporting on this crisis. It means not reporting this as “horse race” politics. And it means that Democratic leadership has to be fighting against this, openly and all the time.

Shutting this down requires that, as a basic first step, we all begin to treat this as the five-alarm fire scandal that it is. 

I once called the Republicans’ hunger for power a “dark truth.” Five years later, sadly, it is an open, proud and largely unchallenged truth.

We can’t let this continue.

Michigan County Board Throws Support Behind Impeaching Gretchen Whitmer

Posted on by LifeZette

Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer got some bad news this week when a county in the northern part of her state expressed support for a resolution to impeach her that was put forth by three Republican members of Michigan’s House of Representatives.

Michigan County Votes In Support Of Resolution To Impeach Whitmer

The Kalkaska County Board of Commissioners voted four to two in favor of supporting the impeachment effort, according to Michigan Live.

Whitmer has become known for imposing some of the strictest coronavirus lockdown measures in the country on her state. Commissioner David Comai stood by the board’s decision to support the impeachment effort, claiming that  Whitmer’s “unconstitutional executive orders” were to blame for Kalkaska County’s current economic crisis.

This comes days after Republican Representatives Beau LaFave, Matt Maddock and Daire Rendon issued the impeachment resolution, alleging that Whitmer was guilty of “corrupt conduct in office and crimes and misdemeanors” over her latest COVID-19 guidelines.

RELATED: Michigan Lawmakers Push For Impeachment Hearings Against Gretchen Whitmer

Michigan Speaker Of The House Defends Whitmer

Not all Michigan Republicans are behind this effort, however, as the state’s GOP Speaker of the House Rep. Lee Chatfield has spoken out against it. He described the resolution as a “distraction from the real things we have to get done in our state.”

“We’re not the party that impeaches someone because we’re upset with policies that they’ve enacted,” he said, according to Fox News.

“I thought it was shameful what the Democrats did to President Trump last year, and I would assume that any attempt by Republicans right now, with the current set of facts that we have to impeach the governor, would be on the same level,” Chatfield added. 

RELATED: Gretchen Whitmer Blames Her Strict Lockdown Orders On Trump

However, Maddock said last week that he has a “growing list of Michigan Legislators” who are planning to begin proceedings to impeach Whitmer, according to The Hill.

When asked why he feels she should be impeached, Maddock claimed that the Democrat has “ignored court orders. Violated our Constitutional rights. Completely ignored due process and the legislature. Weaponized contract tracing databases to aid democrat campaigns,”

This piece was written by James Samson on November 25, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Robert De Niro Warns Trump Supporters That They ‘Should Be Afraid Of What’s Gonna Happen’ When He Leaves Office
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein Steps Down As Head Of Judiciary Committee After Backlash From Progressives
Dershowitz Slams Dominion Ploy And Trump’s Chances

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