Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republicans’ third position, said on Tuesday that she would vote to accuse President Donald Trump, as at least three GOP lawmakers would charge the president of their own party with major crimes and offenses.
She is the high-ranking Republican who has called the president’s indictment following the deadly riots on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, helping Trump with lies and offensive rhetoric.
Rep. John Katko, RN.Y., had earlier said he would support the indictment after the president incited a mob that attacked the Capitol last week while Congress was running for president. Joe Biden’s presidential victory counted. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Later joined Cheney and Katko. The riot left five people, including a Capitol police officer, dead.
In a statement, Cheney said Trump “summoned this crowd, gathered the crowd and lit the flame of this attack.”
“All that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the president,” the Republican conference president said. “The president could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He has not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 8, 2019.
Aaron P. Bernstein | Reuters
The House plans to vote Wednesday on whether he will charge Trump with high-profile crimes and crimes. Democrats said they had enough votes to accuse the president of an unprecedented second.
Once the House accuses Trump, the Senate will decide whether he is guilty. The chamber may not have time to vote to remove him from office before Biden takes office a week from Wednesday.
Nevertheless, conviction in the Senate will prevent Trump from becoming president again.
The Republicans of the House revealed their views when the New York Times reported that Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Told associates that he thinks Trump is committing impeccable acts. The newspaper did not specify whether McConnell would vote to convict the president if the House sent articles of accusation to the Senate, and whether he would ask Republicans to vote the same way.
More Republicans can support along with Cheney, Katko and Kinzinger. No House Republicans voted to accuse Trump in 2019 of abusing power and obstructing Congress.
Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, breaks up with House House minority leader Kevin McCarthy. The Republican in California opposed the prosecution of Trump. He and the minority whip, Steve Scalise, R-La., Both objected to counting Biden’s certified election victory in Arizona and Pennsylvania after the Capitol attack.
Cheney is the daughter of former Vice President and Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. He joined the nine other living leaders of the Pentagon earlier this month and warned not to involve the military in disputes over election results. The Washington Post action came three days before the attack on Capitol.
Trump had earlier said the pressure from Democrats to accuse him was dangerous and could cause more violence. Some of his Republican allies have argued that the effort will hamper efforts to reduce tensions in the country.
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
The indictment that Democratic leaders appear to oppose, titled “Incitement to Insurrection,” accuses Trump of committing major crimes and misdemeanors by encouraging an attack on an equal branch of government. It says the president, by lying to his supporters about the election results for two months and then encouraging them to fight the result, shortly before the invasion of the Capitol, spurred the riot.
This story unfolds. Please come and check for updates.
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