Growing number of House Republicans support impeaching Trump. What are they saying?
A growing number of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have signaled their support for impeaching President Donald Trump following last week’s violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump, who has continuously made false and unfounded claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, spoke to his supporters at a rally on Wednesday, claiming the election was stolen from him and telling them to march to the Capitol.
Rioters later did and breached the building as Congress was convened to certify the Electoral College results. They scaled walls, smashed windows, broke into the U.S. Senate chamber and reached the doors of the House chamber — delaying Congress’s certification for hours.
Five people have died as a result of the siege. A Capitol Police officer died Thursday from injuries sustained in the attack. One woman was fatally shot in the Capitol, and three others died of medical emergencies in the area.
Some lawmakers have blamed the attack on the president’s rhetoric and are seeking avenues to hold him accountable.
House Democrats introduced one article of impeachment against Trump for “incitement of insurrection” on Monday.
If it’s approved, it would be the second time Trump is impeached and would make him the first president in U.S. history to be impeached more than once.
In 2019, when the House voted to impeach Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, no Republican members voted in favor of impeachment. Trump was later acquitted by the Senate in 2020.
But now, some GOP members of the House have expressed support for impeachment and indicated they may vote in favor of it. As many as 10 Republicans are “seriously weighing it,” Politico reports.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday he’ll “vote the right way.”
On Monday, his spokesperson indicated Kinzinger may vote with Democrats on impeachment.
“Congressman Kinzinger is committed to doing what is right, no matter the political cost,” the spokesperson said in a statement, according to The Hill. “What President Trump did last week was incite violence and encourage a mob to attack the United States Capitol. Clearly, the president violated his oath of office and is unfit to serve.”
Rep. Peter Meijer, a Republican from Michigan, told CNN on Monday he is strongly considering voting to impeach the president, criticizing Trump’s response to the violence at the Capitol.
“No condemnation, no urge to bring things back,” he said of Trump’s actions during the attack. “To me that was an abject failure of leadership and something just broke then.”
He expressed concern, however, about the timing of impeachment.
“To me, this is not the timing that is ideal, I’d prefer that we have a more fullsome investigation into what happened,” he told CNN. “Most of what I know about Jan. 6 came either from personal experience or from Twitter. But at the end of the day, I think it is obvious that the president is no longer qualified to hold that office.”
House Democrats are also looking to House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, who has reportedly said in private she may support impeachment, Politico reports.
Some House Republicans, however, have said they still don’t support impeachment.
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has said Trump should be held accountable for the attack Wednesday but has urged President-elect Joe Biden to encourage Democrats to back off impeachment, The Hill reports.
“We need to be very careful about the rhetoric, about being divisive right now in the next 10 days,” she said, according to The Hill.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has also spoken out against impeaching Trump.
“Impeaching the president with just 12 days left in his term will only divide our country more,” he said Friday, according to Politico.
Only a simple majority in the House is required to adopt an article of impeachment, and with Democrats in the majority and at least some Republicans considering voting in favor, the effort is likely to succeed. Convicting and removing Trump from office, however, is less likely.
Doing so would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate, meaning a significant number of Republicans would have to get on board. The timing is also complicated, with the Senate currently scheduled to be out of session until Jan. 19, the day before Biden is sworn in.
The president could still be impeached after he leaves office, which could result in other consequences, including a disqualification from holding office again.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 10:14 AM with the headline "Growing number of House Republicans support impeaching Trump. What are they saying?."
