'An Act of Treason' Motivates Pelosi Push for Trump's Impeachment
You gotta give the Speaker of the House credit, she hasn’t backed down in the face of Donald Trump’s bullying. And it’s become clear that, regardless of what the Senate chooses to do, there will be a fast track vote on impeachment in the House of Representatives next week.
As Victoria Brownsworth noted this morning, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi is confident she has the votes, following conversations among the party leadership on Thursday evening. The key phrase used to justify this extraordinary effort is “An act of treason.”
From Politico:
Two sets of articles of impeachment have already been drafted, and Democratic leaders have coalesced behind those led by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee. That proposal says Trump deserves removal — and would permanently bar him from public office — for “willfully inciting violence against the government of the United States.” The resolution also accuses Trump of improperly pressuring Georgia’s secretary of state to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory on false pretenses.
One focus for Cicilline and other top Democrats in the coming days will be recruiting House Republicans to buck their party and their president on the floor. Democrats believe the GOP will have at least one defection: Rep. Adam Kinzinger (D-Ill.), who became the first House Republican to call for Trump to be removed from office through the 25th Amendment.
Moderate Democrats — which are a critical faction in Pelosi’s caucus, particularly with the much tighter margins this Congress — privately say they still prefer an approach centered on the 25th Amendment. But it’s unlikely they would block a path to impeachment, if that is what Pelosi chooses, according to several sources familiar with their thinking.
Sources have told the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman that a surprising number of GOP Senators would vote for impeachment based on anger over the leaked call to the Georgia Secretary of State and Trump’s role in inciting the riot.
A saving grace for the president may well be the short amount of time left in his term. The Senate can’t act on articles of impeachment, barring a unanimous consent agreement to reconvene before the 19th. And we all know where Ted Cruz would stand on that.
Pelosi definitely isn’t kidding around. CNN’s Manu Raju reports the Speaker received assurances from Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley that safeguards were in place in the event President Trump wants to launch a nuclear weapon.
Impeachment isn’t just about limiting the president’s power in his waning days; it’s about branding him as the only president who was twice impeached in the face of his already underway fundraising efforts for a 2024 comeback.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1347543587886559234?s=20
It’s not that Trump will ever have any shame for his actions. Nobody’s ever told him “no” before, and his fantastical view of what has transpired will likely accompany him to his deathbed.
But damaging the Trump legacy as a “success” will impair his ability to influence the party apparatus both in Washington and in state capitols around the country. Democratic victories in Georgia's Senate races will leave no wiggle room for anything less than a united Republican party. And that ain’t gonna happen.
The horror of the Triumpanista assault on democracy continues to be revealed…
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1347579128107700231?s=20
https://twitter.com/jimbourg/status/1347559078831284227?s=20
And the evidence of a coordinated effort to deny protection to the congress is pouring in.
https://twitter.com/rachael_levy/status/1347326638162382849?s=20
As Mark Sumner reported at Daily Kos:
As the assault on the Capitol unfolded Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who resigned on Thursday, made “an urgent plea” for a 200-member rapid response force to help police at the Capitol building. However, an official from the office of the secretary of the Army replied that “wasn’t going to be possible.” As a reason, that official said the Pentagon didn’t like the “optics” of Guard members entering the Capitol—even though the building was at that point surrounded by thousands of Trump supporters were had forced their way through multiple levels of police security. It wasn’t until Trump supporters had actually stormed the building, smashed their way into the chambers of Congress, ransacked congressional offices, and prowled the halls hoping to take political leaders hostage, that the Pentagon finally approved the use of National Guard forces.
All of this shines a new light on Trump’s post-election moves at the Pentagon. That included bringing in disgraced former Gen. Anthony Tata, Islamophobic right-wing radio host Frank Wuco, and conspiracy theorist Rich Higgins. A day after positioning this trio, Trump replaced the chief of staff at the Pentagon with former Devin Nunes staffer Kash Patel. On the same day, he forced out the undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
On Thursday, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy claimed the military had “acted as quickly as possible” and that officials hadn’t anticipated the level of violence demonstrated by Trump supporters in their “wildest imagination.” If so, they were the only ones. Because Trump encouraged exactly this type of action, and everyone else certainly expected it.
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1347300665052246016?s=20
https://twitter.com/jpaceDC/status/1347308543632961540?s=20
***
Finally, a little levity… because we need it now:
https://twitter.com/RandyRainbow/status/1347559049668268035?s=20
Hey folks! Be sure to like/follow Words & Deeds on Facebook. If you’d like to have each post emailed to you check out the simple subscription form on the right side of the front page.
Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com