House moves forward with historic impeachment vote against Donald Trump

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The House is moving forward with a historic impeachment vote against Donald Trump a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol building.

As per CBS News, if the vote goes through successfully, it will mean make Trump the only president in US history to have been impeached twice.

The article, which has been backed by more than 200 Democrats, accuses the outgoing president of "incitement of insurrection," and says he "gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government."

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Credit: PA Images

In a recent update, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has told reporters that The House will immediately send the ratified impeachment article against Donald Trump over to the Senate on Wednesday, The Independent reports.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee released a statement on Tuesday which said the president "committed a high Crime and Misdemeanor against the Nation by inciting an insurrection at the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential Election."

There has also been division within the Republican party itself, with prominent members breaking from the president.

They include Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House, who said that she will vote to impeach Trump.

In a statement on Tuesday, Cheney said: "There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution."

Seth Meyers discusses a looming impeachment for Trump: 

Following the presidential election on November 3, President Trump repeatedly voiced unfounded claims of widespread electoral fraud in a bid to overturn the result.

When the House and Senate convened for a joint session to count states' electoral votes, Trump told supporters outside the White House to "fight like hell" to protect their country.

Prior to today's events, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had urged Mike Pence to enact the 25th Amendment and begin the impeachment process himself, but he wrote the following letter to say that he would not do so.

As per CBC news, proceedings kicked off shortly before 9:30AM this morning and will lead up to the vote to charge Trump with incitement of insurrection.

While last week's events at the Capitol have been condemned by Democrats and Republicans, GOP lawmakers have argued that if Trump is impeached, it will only serve to further divide the country.

"The majority of the House is choosing to divide us further," Republican Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma said in remarks on the House floor. "I can think of no action the House can take that is more likely to further divide the American people than the action we are contemplating today."

In response to the looming impeachment, President Trump said on Tuesday (January 12), that efforts to impeach him are causing "tremendous anger" throughout the United States.

Per ABC News, when speaking to reporters outside the White House before heading to the US-Mexico border in Texas, the outgoing president dismissed plans of his impeachment by House Democrats as "ridiculous".

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Credit: PA Images

"As far as this is concerned, we want no violence. Never violence," Trump said. "On the impeachment, it’s really a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics. It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

"This impeachment is causing tremendous anger, and you're doing it, and it’s really a terrible thing that they’re doing," he added.

That being said, CNN has reported that "Trump has nothing on his schedule and lacks a comprehensive legal strategy" in response to today's proceedings.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Kevin Liptak write: "Aides expect Trump to mostly watch the proceedings on television throughout the day. But without Twitter, a campaign rally, a team of lawyers or Republicans willing to defend his actions, Trump is set to weather the historic shaming in subdued fashion."