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Reckoning for riot: House votes to impeach Trump, again

President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House for a historic second time, charged with 鈥渋ncitement of insurrection鈥 in relation to the Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol. The House voted 232-197, with 10 Republicans joining the Democrats.

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J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi leads the final vote of the impeachment of President Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 13, 2021. Mr. Trump is the only U.S. president to be impeached twice.

President Donald Trump was impeached by the United States House of Representatives for a historic second time Wednesday, charged with 鈥渋ncitement of insurrection鈥 over the deadly mob siege of the Capitol in a swift and stunning collapse of his final days in office.

With the Capitol secured by armed National Guard troops inside and out, the House voted 232-197 to impeach Mr. Trump. The proceedings moved at lightning speed, with lawmakers voting just one week after violent pro-Trump loyalists stormed the building, urged on by the president鈥檚 calls for them to 鈥渇ight like hell鈥 against the election results.

Ten Republicans fled Mr. Trump, joining Democrats who said he needed to be held accountable and warned ominously of a 鈥渃lear and present danger鈥 if Congress should leave him unchecked before Democrat Joe Biden鈥檚 inauguration Jan. 20.

Mr. Trump is the only U.S. president to be twice impeached.

After a vote of impeachment by the House, a trial is held in the Senate.聽A spokesman for聽Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Mr. McConnell had informed Democrats that he would block their effort to quickly call the chamber back into emergency session to put Mr. Trump on trial. Mr. McConnell's move means the Senate trial was all but certain to be delayed until after Joe Biden's inauguration as president on Jan. 20.

Mr. McConnell has not ruled out potentially voting to convict Mr. Trump.

The Capitol insurrection stunned and angered lawmakers, who were sent scrambling for safety as the mob descended, and it revealed the fragility of the nation鈥檚 history of peaceful transfers of power. The riot also forced a reckoning among some Republicans, who have stood by Mr. Trump throughout his presidency and largely allowed him to spread false attacks against the integrity of the 2020 election.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invoked Abraham Lincoln and the Bible, imploring lawmakers to uphold their oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign 鈥渁nd domestic.鈥

She said of Mr. Trump: 鈥淗e must go, he is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.鈥

Holed up at the White House, watching the proceedings on TV, Mr. Trump took no responsibility for the bloody riot seen around the world, but issued a statement urging 鈥淣O violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind鈥 to disrupt Mr. Biden鈥檚 ascension to the White House.

In the face of the accusations against him and with the FBI warning of more violence, Mr. Trump said, 鈥淭hat is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers.鈥

Mr. Trump was first impeached by the House in 2019 over his dealings with Ukraine, but the Senate voted in 2020 acquit. He is the first to be impeached twice. None has been convicted by the Senate, but Republicans said Wednesday that could change in the rapidly shifting political environment as officeholders, donors, big business, and others peel away from the defeated president.

The soonest Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell would start an impeachment trial is next Tuesday, the day before Mr. Trump is already set to leave the White House, Mr. McConnell鈥檚 office said. The legislation is also intended to prevent Mr. Trump from ever running again.

Mr. McConnell believes Mr. Trump committed impeachable offenses and considers the Democrats鈥 impeachment drive an opportunity to reduce the divisive, chaotic president鈥檚 hold on the GOP, a Republican strategist told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Mr. McConnell told major donors over the weekend that he was through with Mr. Trump, said the strategist, who demanded anonymity to describe Mr. McConnell鈥檚 conversations.

In a note to colleagues Wednesday, Mr. McConnell said he had 鈥渘ot made a final decision on how I will vote.鈥

Unlike his first time, Mr. Trump faces this impeachment as a weakened leader, having lost his own reelection as well as the Senate Republican majority.

Even Trump ally Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, shifted his position and said Wednesday the president bears responsibility for the horrifying day at the Capitol.

In making a case for the 鈥渉igh crimes and misdemeanors鈥 demanded in the Constitution, the four-page impeachment resolution approved Wednesday relies on Mr. Trump鈥檚 own incendiary rhetoric and the falsehoods he spread about Mr. Biden鈥檚 election victory, including at a rally near the White House on the day of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

A Capitol Police officer died from injuries suffered in the riot, and police shot and killed a woman during the siege. Three other people died in what authorities said were medical emergencies. The riot delayed the tally of Electoral College votes that was the last step in finalizing Mr. Biden鈥檚 victory.

Ten Republican lawmakers, including third-ranking House GOP leader Liz Cheney of Wyoming, voted to impeach Mr. Trump, cleaving the Republican leadership, and the party itself.

Ms. Cheney, whose father is the former Republican vice president, said of Mr. Trump鈥檚 actions summoning the mob that 鈥渢here has never been a greater betrayal by a President鈥 of his office.

Mr. Trump was said to be livid with perceived disloyalty from Mr. McConnell and Ms. Cheney.

With the team around Mr. Trump hollowed out and his Twitter account silenced by the social media company, the president was deeply frustrated that he could not hit back, according to White House officials and Republicans close to the West Wing who weren鈥檛 authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

From the White House, Mr. Trump leaned on Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to push Republican senators to resist, while chief of staff Mark Meadows called some of his former colleagues on Capitol Hill.

The president鈥檚 sturdy popularity with the GOP lawmakers鈥 constituents still had some sway, and most House Republicans voted not to impeach.

Security was exceptionally tight at the Capitol, with tall fences around the complex. Metal-detector screenings were required for lawmakers entering the House chamber, where a week earlier lawmakers huddled inside as police, guns drawn, barricaded the door from rioters.

鈥淲e are debating this historic measure at a crime scene,鈥 said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.

During the debate, some Republicans repeated the falsehoods spread by Mr. Trump about the election and argued that the president has been treated unfairly by Democrats from the day he took office.

Other Republicans argued the impeachment was a rushed sham and complained about a double standard applied to his supporters but not to the left. Some simply appealed for the nation to move on.

Rep. Tom McClintock of California said, 鈥淓very movement has a lunatic fringe.鈥

Yet Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo. and others recounted the harrowing day as rioters pounded on the chamber door trying to break in. Some called it a 鈥渃oup鈥 attempt.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., contended that Mr. Trump was 鈥渃apable of starting a civil war.鈥

Conviction and removal of Mr. Trump would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, which will be evenly divided. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania joined Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska over the weekend in calling for Mr. Trump to 鈥済o away as soon as possible.鈥

Fending off concerns that an impeachment trial would bog down his first days in office, Mr. Biden is encouraging senators to divide their time between taking taking up his priorities of confirming his nominees and approving COVID-19 relief while also conducting the trial.

The impeachment bill draws from Mr. Trump鈥檚 own false statements about his election defeat to Mr. Biden. Judges across the country, including some nominated by Mr. Trump, have repeatedly dismissed cases challenging the election results, and former Attorney General William Barr, a Trump ally, has said there was no sign of widespread fraud.

The House had first tried to persuade Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke their authority under the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office. Mr. Pence declined to do so, but the House passed the resolution anyway.

The impeachment bill also details Mr. Trump鈥檚 pressure on state officials in Georgia to 鈥渇ind鈥 him more votes.

While some have questioned impeaching the president so close to the end of his term, there is precedent. In 1876, during the Ulysses Grant administration, War Secretary William Belknap was impeached by the House the day he resigned, and the Senate convened a trial months later. He was acquitted.

This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writers Kevin Freking, Andrew Taylor, and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

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