US House impeaches Trump second time

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The U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection at the Capitol that left five people dead, cementing his place in history as the only president to be impeached twice in a bipartisan rebuke.

The final vote was 232 to 197, with all 222 Democrats and 10 Republicans supporting a single article of impeachment charging the president with "incitement of insurrection."

Prior to the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “We know that the president of the United State incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country. He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love."

Trump was first impeached in Dec. 2019 for his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Biden family. His second impeachment comes just one week before President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn into office as his successor. Only two other presidents have been impeached since the founding of the republic.

What spurred the quick impeachment was a violent riot on Jan. 6. The president addressed supporters near the White House, urging them to "fight like hell" as members of Congress began formalizing the electoral count.

Following the Trump speech, an Trump supporters marched on the Capitol and stormed the complex, shattering windows and breaking down doors to gain access to the halls of Congress.

The ensuing riot managed to halt the counting of the electoral votes for several hours.

Tuesday evening, House Democrats pass an Article 25 resolution urging Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet to exercise the amendment and remove Trump from office. Pence declined and House Democrats quickly brought the impeachment resolution to a vote reflecting what they considered to be the severity of the assault on the Capitol and the limited time remaining in Mr. Trump's term.

The article of impeachment will soon head to the Senate, where lawmakers must hold a trial on whether to convict the president and remove him from office.

With days left in Trump's term, the Senate trial could potentially stretch into the term of his successor. If that happens, the Senate could still choose to convict Trump and bar him from holding any federal office in the future. A vote to convict requires a vote of two-thirds of the Senate.

Thus far, Trump has refused to take responsibility for his role in inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol, insisting on Tuesday that his speech before the riot was "totally appropriate."