* Senate regrets short time left for similar action
The U.S House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to impeach Donald Trump for inciting last week’s deadly Capitol siege, making him the first president to be impeached twice.
The outcome, which was expected, comes only seven days before Trump leaves office and Democratic President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated.
The Democrat-controlled House charged Trump with inciting an insurrection after a mob of his supporters, riled up by his false claims of election fraud, stormed Congress and temporarily halted a joint session to certify Biden’s victory.
The House impeachment will lead to a trial in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is needed to convict Trump.
However, an outcome appears unlikely before Biden is sworn in as president.
The resolution is expected to pass in a bipartisan vote, with several Republican lawmakers having said they would join Democrats in voting for impeachment.
The impeachment came after lawmakers debated the charge against Trump – inciting an insurrection – in the same chamber that was evacuated a week ago as his supporters stormed Congress.
Meanwhile, Trump has called on his supporters to shun violence and vandalism after he was impeached for a history-making second time by the US House of Representatives on Wednesday.
Moments after the impeachment, Trump released a video statement calling for calm.
“No true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence. No true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement or our great American flag,” Trump said from the Oval Office.
“Now I am asking everyone who has ever believed in our agenda to be thinking of ways to ease tensions, calm tempers and help to promote peace in our country,” he said.
Furthermore, the outgoing President decried what he described as the “unprecedented assault on free speech we have seen in recent days.
“Efforts to censor, cancel and blacklist our fellow citizens are wrong and they are dangerous,” he said.
“What is needed now is for us to listen one another, not to silence one another.”
Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and other social media platforms have since blocked the President, accusing him of using their platforms to incite violence in America.
Trump was accused of having incited last week’s deadly attack on the Capitol that led to the death of some Americans.
Trump
The President had insisted that the November 3 presidential election was marred by election fraud and had delayed transition process of President-elect, Joe Biden.
Noteworthy, he reportedly made a final push when he tried to stop the certification of Joe Biden at the Capitol by allegedly inciting his supporters to attack the place and calling some lawmakers on telephone to stop the process.
Luckily for Trump, the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, hinted that the upper chamber of the US Congress will not impeach the President.
In a statement, McConnell suggested it is too late to commence a similar process.
“There is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect, Biden is sworn in next week”, he wrote.
The lawmaker said even if the Senate commenced an action this week and moved promptly, no final verdict would be reached until Trump had left office.
“This is not a decision I am making; it is a fact,” McConnell declared.
He advised the US Congress to spend the coming days focusing on facilitating an orderly transfer of power to the incoming Biden administration.