By: Alexis Cope

President Donald Trump has been impeached for a second time, creating a first in United States history.

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to charge Trump with “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” for “inciting violence against the Government of the United States”. The House declared his actions–and specifically speech–preceding the attack on the Capitol last week “in violation of his Constitutional oath”. 

Before the vote, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump “a clear and present danger to the nation” and, even with only a week left in office, “he must go”.

The final count was 232 in favor of impeachment with 197 against. 

While all 222 Democrats voted in favor of the resolution, the Republican representatives were divided. In the end, 10 decided to join the Democrats. Those 10 were as followed: Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Tom Rice of South Carolina, David Valado of California, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Fred Upton of Michigan, John Katko of New York, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

With only a week left in office, it is very unlikely the Senate trial for removal from office will be completed in time for Trump to actually leave office early. However, this trial will determine whether or not Trump will be allowed to run for office in the future. Due to the rush of work that comes with the entrance of any new administration, it is possible that completion of this trial could take weeks, possibly months. 

Trump released a video message after the House’s vote condemning violence saying, “violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country…mob violence goes against everything I believe in.” He did not mention his impeachment once during this message. 

To read the Articles of Impeachment voted on yesterday visit: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/11/us/articles-impeachment-trump.html