House impeaches Trump for role in deadly Capitol riot

By Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya, Mike Hayes, Melissa Mahtani, Fernando Alfonso III and Veronica Rocha, CNN

Updated 8:54 a.m. ET, January 14, 2021
14 Posts
Sort byDropdown arrow
9:20 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

The House is now in session and will begin impeachment proceedings

From CNN's Lauren Fox

House TV
House TV

The US House of Representatives has just convened and will now begin consideration of President Trump's impeachment.

The impeachment resolution the House will vote on today charges Trump with a single article, "incitement of insurrection," for his role in last week's deadly Capitol riot.

The first debate is expected to last about an hour and will revolve around the rules governing the impeachment article.

After that, the House will vote on the rule.

Remember: Voting in the House takes time because of coronavirus protocols and now lawmakers also have to pass through metal detectors to get onto the House floor.

Trump is now staring at the shameful distinction of being impeached by the House of Representatives twice in just over a year – the only president in US history to be impeached twice.

Even if he's impeached today, Trump will stay in office and likely finish out his term, because it takes a Senate conviction to remove him even after he’s been impeached.

9:31 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

Man in "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirt during Capitol riot arrested, law enforcement official says

From CNN's Evan Perez

The rioter who stormed the US Capitol on January 6 wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the phrase "Camp Auschwitz" has been identified as Robert Keith Packer of Virginia.
The rioter who stormed the US Capitol on January 6 wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the phrase "Camp Auschwitz" has been identified as Robert Keith Packer of Virginia. ITN

A rioter who stormed the US Capitol last week wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the phrase "Camp Auschwitz" was arrested Wednesday morning in Virginia, according to a law enforcement official. 

CNN was first to report that the man in the sweatshirt was identified as Robert Keith Packer. A law enforcement official told CNN that Packer was picked up in Newport News, Va.

An image of Packer, whose sweatshirt bore the name of the Nazi concentration camp where about 1.1 million people were killed during World War II, inside the Capitol has evoked shock and disbelief on social media. The bottom of his shirt stated, "Work brings freedom," which is the rough translation of the phrase "Arbeit macht frei" that was on the concentration camp's gates.

Charging documents were not immediately available.

CNN is pursuing more information.

9:10 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

How Trump's second impeachment will be different from the first

Analysis from CNN's Zachary B. Wolf

President Donald Trump holds a copy of The Washington Post as he speaks in the White House, one day after the U.S. Senate acquitted on two articles of impeachment, on February 6, 2020.
President Donald Trump holds a copy of The Washington Post as he speaks in the White House, one day after the U.S. Senate acquitted on two articles of impeachment, on February 6, 2020. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The overall impeachment process laid out in the Constitution is relatively simple: A President commits "high Crime or Misdemeanor," the House votes to impeach and the Senate conducts a trial.

Those overall contours are constant. But there's no such thing as a routine impeachment.

The one President Trump faces now, after inciting a riotous mob to attack the Capitol, is unprecedented in all sorts of ways, which means the process will feel entirely new and different from the one we saw in late 2019 around the Ukraine investigation.

Specifically, this House impeachment vote is likely to be done this week, and the Senate trial will occur after Trump leaves office.

Here are some other key differences:

What Trump is accused of doing: There was a lot of debate during Trump's first impeachment and trial about whether the pressure he exerted on the President of Ukraine amounted to "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" or simply a set of policies. This time, while there's an argument he committed treason, Democrats in the House have alleged Trump "engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States."

The Article argues that Trump incited his supporters by repeatedly denying the election results in the lead-up to the counting of the electoral votes, that he pressured Georgia's secretary of state to "find" additional votes for him, and in doing so he "gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government," "threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government." Read the entire thing here. It's short.

The House's timeline: Getting from Trump's misdeed to impeachment proceedings in the House took 86 days in 2019. It's going to take just a week in 2021. The House can essentially impeach at will. While there are precedents in place around instigating the impeachment process and utilizing House committees to investigate whether impeachable offenses occurred, none of that is necessarily required. And Democrats, moving quickly, aren't going to burden themselves by dragging this out.

And why bother with an investigation when this time Trump did it on TV? In that first effort, the details of Trump's pressure on Ukraine leaked out over the course of weeks and built into Democratic support to launch and conduct an investigation and, ultimately, to impeach him.

With Trump's time in office set to expire at noon on Jan. 20, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also gave Trump and Vice President Mike Pence the option of avoiding impeachment if either Trump resigned or Pence mobilized the Cabinet to use the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

When those two offramps were ignored, Democrats in the House moved quickly toward impeachment and the first post-presidential impeachment trial in US history.

Impeaching Trump in the House requires only a simple majority and Democrats hope to gain at least some support from Republicans.

Read the full story here.

9:23 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

Vice president's residence fortified with unprecedented level of security not seen since 9/11

From CNN's Betsy Klein

Security barriers are seen around the vice president’s residence, the US Naval Observatory, in Washington, DC, on January 13, in this screengrab taken from CNN footage.
Security barriers are seen around the vice president’s residence, the US Naval Observatory, in Washington, DC, on January 13, in this screengrab taken from CNN footage. CNN

Overnight, the perimeter surrounding the vice president’s residence, the US Naval Observatory, was fortified with a chain link fence reinforced with concrete barricades.  

That level of physical security barriers around the vice president’s residence is unprecedented, with the exception of similar actions in the immediate aftermath of the Sep. 11 attacks. 

The move comes one week after President Trump incited riots at the US Capitol, and hours before he is expected to become the first US president to be impeached twice. It also comes amid concerns that additional protests could take place in both Washington and around the country in the coming days. 

Additionally, there are significant road closures around the White House and additional fencing with concrete barricades have gone up around the White House complex. Similar security measures were taken over the summer amid protests for racial justice.

9:10 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

GOP congressman says that impeachment is "polarizing" and a "bad idea"

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Republican Rep. Ken Buck said that he will vote against impeaching President Trump and that the process is “absolutely polarizing.”

“It's a bad idea. You impeach a president after hearings and great deliberation. You don't impeach a president in the heat of the moment,” Buck said. 

President Trump’s actions do not constitute an impeachable offense, Buck told CNN’s John Berman.

He also said he has sent a letter to President-elect Joe Biden asking him to request that the House not go forward.

“What could be more unifying is to hold a commission of our committee hearing or put this in the Judiciary Committee and find out what actually happened,” he said.

Buck said the “level of vitriol” between Democrats and Republicans has been building for five years now, adding, “to say that there's one speech or one incident that caused this group of people to storm the Capitol is just not accurate. What I'm trying to suggest to you is that both sides are at fault…,” at which point, Berman stopped him.

“What on Earth did any other side do than the side that invaded the US Capitol?” Berman asked.  

“It wasn't as if the President gave one speech and all of a sudden, people went from perfectly calm and thoughtful demeanor to this violent action that occurred, which is absolutely shameful. I'm not trying to excuse it. But the actions that have led up to this are typical of this impeachment,” Buck said. 

Watch:

9:10 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

Here's what the Capitol looks like this morning with National Guard members deployed

Members of the National Guard were deployed to the US Capitol ahead of the House's vote today on impeaching President Trump for a second time.

Photos from inside the building showed some National Guards members preparing for the day: Some were seen picking up weapons while other were seen resting on the floor.

Here's a look at the scene from in and around the Capitol:

Members of the National Guard are given weapons before Democrats begin debating one article of impeachment against President Trump, outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, January 13.
Members of the National Guard are given weapons before Democrats begin debating one article of impeachment against President Trump, outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, January 13. Joshua Roberts/Reuters

National Guard members assemble in the Capitol Visitor's Center on January 13.
National Guard members assemble in the Capitol Visitor's Center on January 13. Joshua Roberts/Reuters

National Guard members rest in the Capitol Vistor's Center, ahead of the debate on impeachment against US President Trump on January 13.
National Guard members rest in the Capitol Vistor's Center, ahead of the debate on impeachment against US President Trump on January 13. Joshua Roberts/Reuters

8:53 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

Lawmakers will have to go through metal detectors to get onto the House floor for today's debate

From CNN's Jake Tapper and Daniella Diaz

U.S. Capitol Police install a metal detector outside the House of Representatives Chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 12.
U.S. Capitol Police install a metal detector outside the House of Representatives Chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 12. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Members of Congress and staffers will have to walk through metal detectors in order to get onto the floor of the US House of Representatives, a senior Democratic aide told CNN Tuesday. The House is set to convene at 9 a.m. ET to debate and hold a vote on impeaching President Trump.

The development comes after multiple House Democrats told CNN they are worried about some of their Republican colleagues ignoring House rules regarding firearms. There have been multiple conversations about the need for every member of Congress and their guests to start going through metal detectors.

Capitol Police had set up metal detectors outside of the House floor as of Tuesday afternoon and all House members, staffers and aides will have to go through them, the aide said. A US Capitol Police source confirmed the measures are in place.

Acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett said in a memo to all members of Congress and their staffers that the metal detectors were being installed to ensure compliance with police regulations banning guns and incendiary devices from the chamber.

"Members are reminded that pursuant to the firearms regulations that Members received on opening day, firearms are restricted to a Member's Office," the memo stated. "Thank you in advance for your (cooperation) with the United States Capitol Police and Sergeant at Arms staff during the screening process."

Read more here.

4:52 p.m. ET, January 13, 2021

These Republicans have said they will vote to impeach Trump

From CNN's  Jeremy Herb, Lauren Fox and the hill team

House Democrats and at least a handful of Republicans —including the House's No. 3 Republican — will vote in favor of the impeachment of President Trump just one week after a deadly mob overran Capitol Police, ransacked the US Capitol and put the lives of Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers in danger.

The number of Republicans who will ultimately vote for impeachment remains unclear. So far, five Republicans have said they will vote to impeach Trump.

Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney coming out in support of impeachment yesterday ignited the first signal that the Republican Party might try to be something else after Trump. And, she didn’t just say she backed impeachment. She put the blame of the events last week squarely on Trump’s shoulders.

“The President of the US summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President,” she wrote.

The divide, the differences, the revisionism that we could see in upcoming months and years is just beginning.

Little cracks are playing out across Capitol Hill right now. Staff for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy are calling on their boss to explain himself. The communications director for Sen. Ted Cruz, resigned. Those who disavow Trump both before and because of this moment won’t necessarily win this ideological contest that is going to play out in the days and years ahead.

Some are going to get on this bandwagon late, many months and years after they walked in lockstep with the President. And, many may never disavow him at all. Trump’s support is still strong. There’s a reason that his followers took him seriously when he tweeted, when he made promises, when he gave instructions.

We still expect just a handful of Republicans to vote with Democrats to impeach today. One aide put that estimate – even after Cheney – at no more than 20.

Here are the Republicans who will vote to impeach:

  1. Rep. John Katko
  2. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler
  3. Rep. Adam Kinzinger
  4. Rep. Fred Upton
  5. Rep. Liz Cheney
8:36 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

Trump could be the first US president in history to be impeached twice

Analysis from CNN's Stephen Collinson 

President Trump boards Air Force One before departing Harlingen, Texas on January 12.
President Trump boards Air Force One before departing Harlingen, Texas on January 12. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Before President Trump came to Washington, only two Presidents had been impeached in the near two-and-a-half century history of the United States.

But Trump is now staring at the shameful distinction of being impeached by the House of Representatives twice in just over a year – a sequence that will leave a deep scar in Washington for a generation – not least because despite his aberrant behavior, Trump retains strong support among Republican lawmakers because of his near mystical hold on the party's populist base.

Democrats introduced a resolution to impeach Trump on a charge of incitement of insurrection on Monday morning.

The single charge points to Trump's repeated false claims that he won the election and his speech to the crowd on Jan. 6 before pro-Trump rioters breached the Capitol. It also cited Trump's call with the Georgia Republican secretary of state where the President urged him to "find" enough votes for Trump to win the state.

But the compressed calendar as Trump enters his last nine days in office – and the reticence of Republicans in the Senate, who are faced one again with a loyalty test they have always failed when choosing between Trump's base and the Constitution – seems certain to thwart Democratic efforts to quickly eject Trump from power.

This means the drama surrounding Trump's fate, and the possibility of another Senate trial, could outlast his presidency and his turbulent term could cast a toxic shadow over President-elect Joe Biden's first days in office.

Read the full article here.