In the wake of reports that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell privately supports the impeachment of President Donald Trump over last week’s deadly mob attack, Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocacy groups said the GOP leader must immediately set a trial in motion following the House’s expected vote Wednesday to charge Trump with inciting insurrection.
“If the reports are true, this is the first and maybe last time MoveOn agrees with Mitch McConnell. Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses,” Rahna Epting, executive director of progressive advocacy group MoveOn, said in a statement. “Which is why McConnell must move to start an immediate trial in the Senate.”
“We know the forces that attacked the Capitol last week are planning more attacks,” Epting continued. “We cannot afford to wait one more minute. Every moment Donald Trump is in the White House our nation is put in further danger.”
News of the soon-to-be Senate minority leader’s private support for Trump’s impeachment — and possible support for his conviction — came as the House late Tuesday approved a non-binding resolution formally urging Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to strip the president of his power during his final days in office.
But before the House passed the resolution in a largely party-line vote of 223-205, Pence sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) making clear that he has no intention of invoking the 25th Amendment, claiming such a move would “set a terrible precedent.”
“Pure cowardice,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) tweeted in response to Pence’s refusal to act. “We must impeach and remove Trump from office immediately.”
Just a week before Trump is set to leave office, the House plans to vote Wednesday on an impeachment article charging the lame-duck incumbent with “incitement of insurrection” against the U.S. government. The White House — which is not expected to mount an aggressive defense against the impeachment effort — reportedly expects around two dozen House Republicans to vote for the article.
Wednesday’s vote will pave the way for a Senate trial to determine whether Trump is convicted and potentially barred from running for office in the future. But with President-elect Joe Biden set to take office in just seven days, the timeline for the trial remains highly uncertain even as McConnell privately throws his support behind the impeachment effort.
According to the New York Times, McConnell “has told associates that he believes President Trump committed impeachable offenses and that he is pleased that Democrats are moving to impeach him, believing that it will make it easier to purge him from the party.”
But the Kentucky Republican has not taken the necessary steps to ensure that a Senate trial takes place before Trump leaves office, leaving open the possibility that the proceedings could be put off for months. The Washington Post reported Monday that Biden, “scrambling to ensure the effort does not bog down the start of his tenure, pressed the Senate on whether it could simultaneously hold a trial of the president and pass urgently needed bills.”
Then he shouldn't be blocking bringing up impeachment immediately by calling the Senate back into session now and conducting the trial under a tight timeline before Jan 20 https://t.co/yktaGCVdOu
— David Dayen (@ddayen) January 12, 2021
During a press conference on Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged McConnell to reconvene the Senate in order to begin the trial immediately after the impeachment article is transmitted by the House, dismissing the Kentucky Republican’s claim that the upper chamber’s rules prohibit such a move without the consent of all 100 senators.
“Leader McConnell is saying he can’t call the Senate back after the House votes for impeachment because it requires unanimous consent — the consent of every senator. That’s not true,” said Schumer. “There was legislation passed in 2004 that allows the Senate minority leader and majority leader to jointly reconvene the Senate in times of emergency.”
“This is a time of emergency,” Schumer continued. “I’ve asked him to call the Senate back. All he needs is my agreement — I’m still minority leader — and his agreement, he’s majority leader. We could come back ASAP and vote to convict Donald Trump and get him out of office now before any further damage is done.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy