The US house on Wednesday voted to impeach President Donald Trump for a second time in a swift and bipartisan condemnation of the President’s role inciting last week’s protest at the US Capitol.
Though his role in the protest is still under investigation,the House voted 232 to 197 to impeach Trump and this will be the first time a President has been impeached twice. Ten Republicans, including the House’s No. 3 Republican, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, joined all Democrats to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection.”
The Republican leader’s political fate is now in the hands of the US Senate, which will hold an impeachment trial to determine whether Trump should be convicted.
The Senate is in recess until January 19, the day before Biden will be sworn in as the country’s next president.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office said on Wednesday that he rejected a request from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to treat the impeachment trial as an emergency and reconvene the Senate immediately.
In a statement after the House vote, McConnell said the Senate would not take action until after Biden is sworn in.
