The House of Representatives on Jan. 13 impeached President Donald Trump for instigating supporters who violently stormed the U.S. Capitol a week earlier, with 10 Republicans breaking party lines to support the president's unprecedented second impeachment.
In a 232-197 vote, the Democrat-controlled House approved the single article of impeachment, which charged Trump with "incitement of insurrection." The 10 Republicans who joined the entire Democratic caucus to vote in favor of impeachment included Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who chairs the House Republican conference.
The article of impeachment is set to be transmitted to the Republican-controlled Senate, where a two-thirds majority is needed to convict Trump.
However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has not agreed to reconvene the chamber in an emergency session for the impeachment trial. The Senate is not scheduled to return to regular session until Jan. 19, a day before Trump leaves office and President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated.
In a statement released after the vote, McConnell said "there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week" and that Congress and the executive branch should instead focus on facilitating an orderly transition over the next seven days.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed that there will be a trial on Trump's impeachment and if the president is convicted, a vote will be held on barring him from running again. Schumer, D-N.Y., added that a trial will begin after Jan. 19 if an agreement on an emergency session is not reached.
The House proceeded with the impeachment vote after Vice President Mike Pence rejected calls to remove Trump from office by invoking the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment enables the vice president and a majority of either the Cabinet or Congress to unseat a president they deem to be unfit for office.
A group of Trump supporters sieged the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The riot, which was preceded by Trump's address to supporters in Washington, D.C., forced the House and Senate to evacuate and has resulted in five deaths.
"The president of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told the House floor in the first of a whirlwind series of speeches. "He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love."
Republicans speaking about their decision not to impeach repeatedly called for unity, arguing that impeachment would further inflame tensions in the nation.
Trump has refused to take blame for the Capitol riot, saying in a Jan. 12 speech that he believes in "the rule of law, not in violence or rioting." He also rejected the impeachment effort against him, saying it was "causing tremendous anger and division and pain."
With the Jan. 13 vote, Trump became the first U.S. president in history to be impeached twice. He was impeached by the House in December 2019 on two counts related to asking Ukraine to investigate Biden to boost his reelection chances, but he was cleared by the Senate.
During the 2019 impeachment proceedings, the House voted 230-197 to approve the first article of impeachment charging Trump with abuse of power. Lawmakers also voted 229-198 to approve a second article of impeachment for obstruction of Congress. No Republicans voted for either count.