Rep. Ilhan Omar drew up articles of impeachment for President Trump following riots on Wednesday.
Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, said she will begin drawing up the articles of impeachment. Her announcement was made shortly after rioters stormed the Capitol and clashed with law enforcement, which delayed the certification of the Electoral College for President-elect Joe Biden.
“I am drawing up Articles of Impeachment,” she said. “Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate. We can’t allow him to remain in office, it’s a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath.”
I am drawing up Articles of Impeachment.
Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate.
We can’t allow him to remain in office, it’s a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 6, 2021
Trump addressed a rally of his supporters earlier in the day, during which he attacked Republican congressional leaders for not backing his efforts to subvert the Electoral College, which Congress was supposed to certify on Wednesday afternoon. He also pressured Vice President Mike Pence, who was set to preside over the session, to “come through for us” by rejecting slates of electors he insisted were chosen fraudulently.
The president also urged his supporters to go to the Capitol so they can express their discontent about the election to members of Congress, and he even said he’d go with them, although he ended up going back to the White House. Thousands at the rally traveled to the Capitol and stormed inside, and there were some physical altercations with law enforcement officers.
Should Omar’s effort succeed, Trump would be the first president to be impeached twice. He was impeached in 2019 because, as Democrats claim, he used the power of his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden. Democrats also said Trump withheld critical security aid from Ukraine to force the government to conduct the investigations. He was not removed from office.
As the fighting continued, and at the urging of Biden, Trump released a video telling his supporters to “go home.”
Rep. Cori Bush, a first-term congresswoman from Missouri, said she will be drafting a resolution calling for the expulsion of every Republican member who “sought to overturn the 2020 Presidential election,” claiming that in doing so, they “violated their oath of office to uphold the Constitution.”
Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Republican from Texas who planned to object, indicated that approximately 140 House Republicans would be objecting.
