Trump becomes first US president to be impeached twice

U.S. President Donald Trump was impeached on Wednesday, a week before his official retirement. It was merely a week ago when a group of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol to stage a violent protest. This marks the first case in U.S. history where a president has been impeached in the House of Representatives twice during his term. In December 2019, Trump was impeached over the so-called “Ukraine scandal.” The motion was rejected by the Senate, which then was dominated by the Republican Party.

Charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection,” the House proposed an impeachment motion, with lawmakers voting 232 to 197 to approve it. In addition to the 222 Democrat votes, 10 Republican policymakers voted for impeachment including Liz Cheney, the party’s third-ranked House leader. The impeachment bill spelled out that Trump egged on a violent mob to storm the Capitol, betrayed his oath and defiled democracy and the Constitution by trying to flip the election results.

The direct rationale was incitement of the violence in the Capitol, but the judgment reflects a more comprehensive aspects on Trump’s raising conspiracies on manipulation and refusal to accept the results from even before the presidential election in November.

Passed in the House of Representatives on the day, the bill will be handed over to the Senate for impeachment trial. “There is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week," said Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, implying that the bill won’t be finalized before January 20.


lightee@donga.com