Last updated on January 13th, 2021 at 10:23 am
Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said a vote to impeach President Donald Trump a second time could happen as soon as next week. The House only needs a simple majority to initiate the proceedings.
“Donald Trump needs to be removed from office. And we are going to proceed with every tool that we have to make sure that that happens to protect our democracy,” Clark told CNN. “If the reports are correct, and [Vice President] Mike Pence is not going to uphold his oath of office and remove the president and help protect our democracy, then we will move forward with impeachment to do just that.”
Clark said that articles of impeachment could be brought to the House floor by the middle of next week.
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“We have a president that incited a seditious mob to storm the Capitol. We now have five deaths from that and the harm to our democracy is really unfathomable,” she said.
Calls for impeachment have continued to grow since Vice President Mike Pence has not invoked the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Several members of Trump’s cabinet––including Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos––have resigned even as Democrats and several Republicans raise fears that allowing Trump to remain in office could give him ample opportunity to stoke more violence.
Trump has reportedly been warned that he could face charges for inciting the riot, which killed five people after pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, spurred by the president’s baseless claims of election fraud.
You can watch Clark’s interview below.
“Donald Trump needs to be removed from office. And we are going to proceed with every tool that we have to make sure that that happens to protect our democracy,†Rep. Katherine Clark says as House Democrats eye quick impeachment vote if Pence won’t remove Trump from office pic.twitter.com/d1TxmTXLAt
— CNN This Morning (@CNNThisMorning) January 8, 2021
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
