U.S. Rep. Houlahan Votes Yes To 2nd Trump Impeachment

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-6th) was among House members who today voted to impeach President Donald Trump on a charge that he incited the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week, making the defeated president the first in U.S. history to be impeached twice.

U.S. House of Representatives adopted Resolution 40 in a 232-197 vote count, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats who supported the Articles of Impeachment.

The historic House vote took place a week after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a siege that resulted in five deaths — including the beating death of a Capitol Police officer, multiple arrests, and a sprawling FBI investigation. The impeachment comes a week before President-elect Joe Biden is to be inaugurated in a city on high alert amid ongoing threats of violence.

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-6th) voted yes after promising earlier in the week that she would do so.

In her 30 seconds on the U.S. House floor, where last week's attack happened, Houlahan said, "Last evening an 11-year-old girl joined our telephone town hall. Her question shook me to my core. She was worried about the future of this great nation, and I am too."

Houlahan continued, "The President has endangered this nation and he has betrayed his oath. I do this now for all of us, for our Constitution, and for this republic. I do this to tell the world that this great democracy will stand and no one is above the law, and I do this for our future generations."

Houlahan ended by calling on her fellow representatives to unite and vote 'yes' on impeachment.

"He must be impeached. Our Republic must endure," she said.

After the Jan. 6 attack and attempted insurrection at the Capitol, Houlahan told Patch, "I served this country in both the Air Force and now in Congress. People give their lives so that we can live in a peaceful and free society with a peaceful transition of power. Today’s violent actions at the Capitol are the antithesis of who we are as a country."

What's Next:

• If an impeachment trial is allowed in the Senate, it will be after Biden is inaugurated, McConnell said Wednesday. McConnell has reportedly said he believes Trump committed impeachable offenses, and that moving forward with a vote would make it easier for Republicans to purge Trumpism from their party.

• Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-ranking member of the House Republican leadership, is among more than two dozen Republicans who signaled they would break from their party and vote to impeach Trump.

• "There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution," she said in a statement Tuesday.

Trial In The Senate: Two-thirds of the chamber would have to vote to convict Trump. The Senate exonerated Trump last year on charges of abuse of power and contempt of Congress after special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, but the charge against Trump this time is more clear-cut.

Under the Constitution, the Senate could prevent him from holding federal office again and strip him of other perks afforded to former presidents.

As lawmakers debated the need for and grave potential consequence of impeaching Trump for a second time, the FBI warned of armed protests in the days ahead of Biden’s inauguration. Statehouses in all 50 states have been targeted for protests. [LINK TO YOUR COVERAGE]

The agency is also monitoring chatter on an encrypted messaging platform about plans by Trump extremists to form perimeters around the Capitol, the White House, and the Supreme Court building as Biden takes the oath of office.

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