Jan. 10 (UPI) — House Democratic Whip James Clyburn said that the House may wait until after President-elect Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office to send a vote on whether to impeach President Donald Trump to the Senate as support for a second impeachment grows in Congress.
Clyburn, D-S.C., told CNN’s State of the Union that delaying the start of an impeachment trial until the end of Biden’s first 100 days would allow him to implement his agenda without a trial looming over his actions.
“We’ll take a vote that we should take in the House and [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi] will make the determination as to when is the best time to get that vote and get the managers appointed and move that legislation over to the Senate,” he said. “It just so happens that if it didn’t go over there for 100 days, it could — lets’ give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running and maybe we’ll send the articles sometime after that.”
Clyburn’s comments came as Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday that Democrats are prepared to move forward with impeachment articles against trump in the coming week in response to his role in a mob of his supporters storming the Capitol building as Congress certified the results of November’s presidential election. Pelosi also urged Trump to resign or Vice President Mike Pence to enact the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
Biden, when asked about the push for impeachment, responded Friday during a news conference: “What the Congress decides to do is for them to decide, but I’m going to have to – and they’re going to have to be ready to hit the ground running. Because when [Vice President-elect Kamala Harris] and I are sworn in we’re going to be introducing immediately significant pieces of legislation to deal with the virus, to deal with the economy and deal with economic growth.”
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., on Saturday said that Articles of Impeachment had received 180 co-sponsors and would be introduced on Monday during the House’s pro forma session.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Friday said the earliest his chamber could take up the issue of impeachment is Jan. 19, when the Senate returns to fully convene for business.
Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., on Sunday joined Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, in calling for Trump to resign, saying he had “spiraled down into a kind of madness” following the election.
“I think the best way for our country … is for the president to resign and go away as soon as possible,” Toomey said on NBC News’ Meet the Press. “I acknowledge that may not be likely, but I think that would be best.”
Toomey had previously said he thought Trump’s actions constituted an “impeachable offense” and on Sunday said he should be disqualified from running for office.
“I don’t think he’s a viable candidate for office ever again because of the outrageous behavior in the postelection period,” he said.
The House adopted two articles of impeachment the last time — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — on Dec. 18, 2019. The Senate acquitted Trump of these charges on Feb. 5, 2020. No Republicans voted to impeach in the House. In the Senate, Mitt Romney was the sole Republican senator to vote to impeach and it was only on the abuse of power count.
