Trump becomes the first US president to be impeached twice for egging on a violent mob

Donald Trump on Wednesday became the first American president to be impeached twice, as 10 members of his party joined with Democrats in the House to charge him with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in egging on a violent mob that stormed the Capitol last week. The House’s case was narrow, laid out in a four-page impeachment article that charged the president “threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of government.”

Specifically, it said he sowed false claims about election fraud, pressured Georgia election officials to “find” him enough votes to overturn the results and then encouraged a crowd of his most loyal supporters to gather in Washington and confront Congress. This time, there were no witness interviews, no hearings, no committee debates and no real additional fact finding beyond the public record and the plain facts of the brutal attack and Trump’s words.

Impeachment in the House sets up a trial in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required to remove the president from office. Trump has been at this point before, of course. After the House impeached him in late 2019 for his pressure campaign on Ukraine, the Senate voted to acquit. With the Senate split 50-50, Democrats and the two independents who caucus with them would need 17 Republicans to join them to convict Trump.

Returning to the same chamber where many of them donned gas masks and hid under chairs amid gunfire one week ago, as rioters carrying zip ties and chanting “hang Pence” and “where’s Nancy” overtook police, lawmakers issued stinging indictments of the president and his party. “They may have been hunting for Pence and Pelosi to stage their coup,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the lead impeachment prosecutor, “but every one of us in this room right now could have died.” At least five people did die during the attack. Lawmakers said the threat from Trump had not subsided.