Nancy Pelosi Says Donald Trump Impeachment, Conviction Is Congress’s Duty

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate is the “constitutional remedy” for Donald Trump‘s call for his supporters to overturn democracy, as she opened the debate to impeach the president for a history-making second time.

“The president must be impeached, and I believe the president must be convicted by the Senate, a constitutional remedy that will ensure that the Republic will be safe from this man who is so resolutely determined to tear down the things that we hold dear, and that hold us together,” Pelosi said.

“It gives me no pleasure to say this. It breaks my heart. It should break all of our hearts,” she said.

Trump’s impeachment appeared inevitable, with the resolution charging him with incitement of insurrection drawing unified support from Democrats and several Republicans, including Liz Cheney, the No. 3 House GOP leader and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, saying they would back it.

Pelosi made no announcement of when the single article of impeachment would be sent to the Senate, which would hold a trial. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said earlier he expected it would be delivered soon, triggering a process that risks disrupting President-elect Joe Biden’s plans for a rapid start to his administration.

The vote on the impeachment resolution is set for mid-afternoon after two hours of debate. Democrats and some Republicans seethed over Trump’s role inciting last week’s mob attack on the Capitol and the president’s once-firm control over the Republican Party began to break down.

Hoyer said Trump’s actions encouraging his supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 deserved a swift response. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died in connection with the violence. Some Republicans argued that impeaching Trump would only worsen and inflame the nation’s divisions.

“There are consequences to actions, and the actions of the president of the United States demand urgent, clear action, by the Congress of the United States,” Hoyer said earlier Wednesday on the House floor.

Hoyer told reporters that the decision on when to send the impeachment article ultimately was up to Pelosi but that the two have discussed it.

“My expectation is that we will send it over as quickly as it is ready,” he told reporters.

To defend against new assaults on the Capitol by right-wing activists between now and Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, the grounds were transformed into an an armed camp. National Guard troops holding rifles stood along a newly erected non-scalable metal fence encircling the Capitol. Inside the building, more troops, some of whom slept overnight in the building, crowded hallways, cafeterias and the rotunda. Vehicles were stopped blocks away.

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