WASHINGTON – The Democratic leaders of the House are holding a vote on articles of accusation against President Donald Trump as early as next week, Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark said Friday.
“We know we have limited time, but that every day that Donald Trump is President of the United States is a day of serious danger, so we can use procedural tools to quickly get articles of indictment on the floor for a. voting in the House, ‘Clark, D-Mass., said on CNN’s’ New Day’.
Asked how early the House Judiciary Committee could bring the articles to the floor, Clark said, “It will be … so early next week.”
After the interview, Clark explained that Democrats are still determining the timeline.
Clark told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Thursday night that Democrats are “determined” to hold Trump accountable and said they plan to continue with indictment if Vice President Mike Pence does not want to call for the 25th amendment.
According to a member of Congress who was in the room, NBC News has learned that Democratic leaders met Thursday night to remove the president from office. They discussed how the process could be speeded up and could reinstate the House as soon as Monday to begin the process.
The case has not yet been decided, and there were voices at the leadership meeting pushing for different approaches to whether it should be prosecuted. But as it appears that Vice President Mike Pence is indicating that he will not call for the 25th Amendment, the discussion became more urgent on Thursday.
Leaders will discuss the issue during a conference call with the House Democrats.
It is not clear if any Republicans in the House would be willing to support accusation at this point, but members are so angry about what happened at the Capitol that the political assumptions and norms were not as they were. “People are dirty,” a Republican source said.
A vote against the accusation on the floor in the middle of next week will give the Senate just one week to hold a trial before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20.
Senator Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Indicated Friday that he is intent on possibly condemning Trump and removing him from office if the House accuses Trump.
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“The House, if they meet and go through a process, I will definitely consider whatever articles they may move, because I believe the president has disobeyed his oath of office, as I have already said,” he told CBS This Morning. “‘What he did was evil.’
Clark said the House “can act quickly whenever we want” and suggested that they circumvent certain congressional procedures as Republicans have done in the past with their legislation, and the accusation of articles on the floor.
The chairman of the House judiciary, Jerry Nadler, DN.Y., made it clear in a statement Thursday night that he supports the immediate accusation of the president and his dismissal from office.
