54 members of Congress call for Trump's impeachment for inciting insurrection

Donald Trump has just 13 days left in office, but at least 54 Democratic members of Congress say his incitement of insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday was so egregious that he must be impeached and removed from office immediately, according to a tally compiled jointly by Daily Kos Elections and the American Independent Foundation.

As violent Trump supporters broke into the Capitol and destroyed property, putting lawmakers and the staff that work inside the building at risk, Democratic members of Congress said that Trump’s encouragement of the rioting by his supporters required swift action.

“The president encouraged a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol to prevent Congress from exercising our constitutional duties. That’s about as impeachable an act as I can think of,” Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey told Politico’s Laura Barrón-López.

Other members of Congress echoed those sentiments.

“I would impeach him. I would impeach him in the next 24 hours. He should not be president. He’s brought our country, he’s brought our democracy to its knees,” Rep. Anna Eshoo of California said. “Beyond his party registration, I think he’s a sick, broken individual.”

Impeachment and removal of Trump would have to take place before noon on Jan. 20, when his term expires.

And Republican senators would have to vote to remove Trump.

But Democratic members of Congress, who were barricaded inside of the Capitol as the Trump mob ransacked the building, made clear that the matter was urgent.

“We are going to impeach the seditious criminal Trump (again), and this time we convict in the Senate. Even if it happens after he leaves office,” Rep. Jared Huffman of California tweeted Wednesday night.

Trump was impeached in the House of Representatives for the first time on Dec. 18, 2019, but acquitted in the Republican-controlled Senate on Feb. 5, 2020.

Just one Republican senator voted to convict Trump in February: Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who on Wednesday placed the blame for the terrorist attack on the Capitol directly at Trump’s feet.

Romney called what transpired on Wednesday an “an insurrection incited by the president.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.