Sunday, January 10, 2021

House Prepares for Trump Impeachment, Could Add Charges on Georgia Allegations

 
House Prepares for Trump Impeachment, Could Add Charges on Georgia Allegations
Donald Trump in a striped umbrella © Evan Vucci/Associated Press

WASHINGTON—The House plans to vote this week to impeach President Trump over the riot at the U.S. Capitol, a top Democrat said on Sunday, as lawmakers of both parties condemned the president’s rhetoric and called on him to resign.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D., S.C.) said one or more articles of impeachment will reach the House floor this week, likely on Tuesday or Wednesday. Speaking on Sunday news shows, he said those articles could include allegations related to Mr. Trump’s conduct in connection with the Capitol riot, as well as his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the presidential election in Georgia.

Mr. Clyburn acknowledged that impeachment proceedings had the potential to interfere with the agenda of President-elect Joe Biden. He suggested that the House could delay sending the articles of impeachment to the U.S. Senate until Mr. Biden’s term is well under way.

“Let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we’ll send the articles sometime after that,” Mr. Clyburn said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

House Democrats plan to introduce an article of impeachment on Wednesday’s violent breach of the Capitol complex that accuses the president of inciting an insurrection. The article has the support of 185 House Democrats, one of its authors, Rep. David Cicilline (D., R.I.), said Saturday on CNN.

Meanwhile, another Senate Republican said on Sunday that Mr. Trump should step down. Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” what the most appropriate way is for Mr. Trump to leave office, Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) said, “I think the best way for our country is for the president to resign and go away as soon as possible. I acknowledge that may not be likely, but I think that would be best.”

Mr. Toomey has said he believed the president had committed impeachable offenses. But Mr. Toomey noted a Senate trial would take longer than the short amount of time Mr. Trump has left in office, and he said it wasn’t clear whether it was constitutionally permissible to take action after his term ended.

“There may not be a viable impeachment route at this point,” he said on CNN. “But certainly he could resign and that would be a very good outcome.”

Mr. Toomey’s comments came after Sen. Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) said on Friday he would consider impeachment, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) called on Mr. Trump to resign.

Some Republicans resisted calls for Mr. Trump to resign. “My view would be that what the president should do is finish the last 10 days of his presidency,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R., Mo.) said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“My own view is the president touched the hot stove on Wednesday and is unlikely to touch it again,” Mr. Blunt said.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday. On Friday, a spokesman said, “A politically motivated impeachment against a president, who has done a great job, with 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) sent a memo to Republican senators on Friday outlining how an impeachment trial could work, saying it would be impossible to do it before Mr. Biden becomes president.

Mr. Trump sought to overturn Mr. Biden’s win in Georgia in an hour-long call earlier this month with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, prompting criticism from Democrats and some Republicans.

In December, Mr. Trump also called a staffer in the Georgia secretary of state’s office, demanding that it produce proof of election fraud, an official at that office said. White House officials separately pushed Atlanta’s top federal prosecutor to resign before Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoffs because the president was upset he wasn’t doing enough to investigate the president’s unproven claims of election fraud, people familiar with the matter said.

Mr. Raffensperger rejected pressure to further investigate an election, telling the president, “The challenge that you have is that the data you have is wrong.”

Senior Justice Department officials including recently departed Attorney General William Barr have said the Justice Department hadn’t found evidence of widespread voter fraud that could reverse Mr. Biden’s victory.

A group of seven House Republicans appealed to Mr. Biden on Saturday, asking him to urge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) not to move forward with impeachment.

“This impeachment would undermine your priority of unifying Americans, and would be a further distraction to our nation at a time when millions of our fellow citizens are hurting because of the pandemic and the economic fallout,” GOP Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado and Chip Roy of Texas, among others, wrote in a letter to Mr. Biden.

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R., Ill.), who has called for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump, on Sunday said that impeachment isn’t necessarily the best approach and could backfire.

“I honestly don’t think impeachment is the smart move because I think it victimizes Donald Trump again,” Mr. Kinzinger said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Authorities on Saturday charged additional people in connection with the attack, which many say was spurred on by Mr. Trump’s rhetoric as he for weeks falsely claimed the election had been stolen.

Mr. Biden hasn’t embraced demands for Mr. Trump’s removal, saying he is focused on getting his administration off the ground amid the coronavirus pandemic and other challenges. On Saturday, Mr. Biden tweeted a line from a past speech saying, “Our president is not above the law. Justice serves the people—it doesn’t protect the powerful.”

Mr. Trump stayed out of public view at the White House this weekend, and had nothing on his public schedule. He has been planning his departure from office, possibly on Jan. 19, and has said he would skip Mr. Biden’s inauguration the following day.

Twitter Inc. banned Mr. Trump’s personal account on Friday, citing the risk of further incitement of violence as some of his supporters plan inauguration demonstrations, with one event being advertised in conservative circles as a Million Militia March.

Officials also called for additional security ahead of Mr. Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation,” called on the federal government to take additional steps to protect the city during the inauguration, including increased security. Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.), speaking to CBS, said federal authorities must “flood the zone” around the Capitol to protect the president-elect and lawmakers who plan to attend the event.

Write to Andrew Restuccia at Andrew.Restuccia@wsj.com and Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com
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