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The House of Representatives just voted to impeach Donald Trump on one charge of “incitement of insurrection,” making him the first president in history to be impeached twice.
Following Trump’s incitement of the violent mob that stormed the US Capitol last week—leaving five people, including a police officer, dead—House Democrats drew up an impeachment resolution and brought it to a vote just days before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. The article of impeachment passed 232–197, with 10 Republicans siding with Democrats.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will not reconvene the Senate before January 19, a spokesperson said Wednesday, meaning that Trump’s impeachment trial will extend into Biden’s first term. The New York Times has reported that McConnell privately approves of impeachment, but McConnell reportedly said in a letter Wednesday that he hasn’t yet decided whether he will vote to convict the president.
It’s unclear how likely it is that the Senate will muster the two-thirds majority needed to convict Trump, but the effort could have broader bipartisan support than Trump’s first impeachment, when only one GOP senator, Mitt Romney (Utah), voted to convict. This time around, Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), in addition to Romney, have expressed a willingness to consider voting to convict.
