Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark (D-MA) said on Friday a House vote to impeach President Trump could come as early as next week.
During an appearance on CNN, Clark said Trump must be removed from office and vowed Democrats plan to “proceed with every tool that we have to make sure that that happens to protect our democracy.”
“If the reports are correct, and Mike Pence is not going to uphold his oath of office and remove the president and help protect our democracy, then we will move forward with impeachment to do just that,” Clark continued, predicting the articles could be brought the House floor as soon as next week.
“We have a president that incited a seditious mob to storm the Capitol. We now have five deaths from that and the harm to our democracy is really unfathomable,” she continued:
Democrats drafted articles of impeachment against President Trump this week following the Capitol riots, which resulted in five fatalities, including one police officer. Three of the fatalities were attributed to other medical emergencies, including a heart attack and stroke.
The articles, drafted by Reps. David Cicilline (D-RI), Ted Lieu (D-CA), and Jamie Raskin (D-MD), contend that Trump made statements that “encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — imminent lawless action at the Capitol”:
Incited by President Trump, a mob unlawfully breached the Capitol, injured law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress and the Vice President, interfered with the Join Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the election results, and engaged in violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts.
Democrats ultimately conclude Trump “will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office.”
“President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any sort of office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States,” the articles state.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who described Trump as a “very dangerous person who should not continue in office,” said on Thursday that “if the vice president and the Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment.”