Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for High Crimes and Misdemeanors

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I strongly support the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump, who has violated his oath of office by calling for and causing an insurrection at the Capitol. This House would be complicit if it did nothing with the available responses. One, however, has been taken off the table. Vice President Pence has said he will not call the Cabinet together to remove the president on the grounds of disability. Besides, the use of the 25th Amendment would raise its own set of questions for most, such as whether Trump is disabled. That amendment is usually invoked when a President is hospitalized. Many would argue that Trump's actions show himself in true form.

Impeachment is not without its problems, especially with only seven days left before Trump is out of office. The proposal to delay the Senate trial to when President-elect Biden hopes to reinvigorate the urgently needed program to vaccinate Americans against the coronavirus and focus on other priorities is also problematic. There is also no precedent of an impeachment trial for a former president.

There are issues surrounding the most discussed remedies. I say this not because I do not support these remedies, but to draw attention to the need for Congress to go on record--to go on record immediately against the insurrection of January 6, 2021. The only way to do that before Biden takes office is to pass my concurrent resolution censuring the President for his attempted coup, even after votes had been counted and recounted and had been certified for Biden, and for inciting an insurrection at the Capitol. Moreover, my resolution, which, unlike impeachment and conviction, would require only a majority vote of the House and Senate, and, under the 14th Amendment, would prohibit Trump from holding office again, unless a supermajority of both chambers voted to allow him to serve again. My resolution, therefore, to censure the President has the possibility of being accepted in both Houses since it does not have the high vote threshold in the Senate as conviction after impeachment does. It also points to the President's admonition to Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to find 11,779 votes.

I believe my resolution can obtain bipartisan and bicameral support given the strongly expressed views of Members of the House and Senate about the incitement. My resolution is not all that the President deserves. This resolution, however, will put the Congress on record against the Trump-inspired insurrection before the next President takes office.

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