Not only was Donald Trump the first president in US history to be impeached twice, with ten Republican members of the US House of Representatives voting against him, it also was the most bipartisan presidential impeachment in US history. This is in stark contrast to the last vote when Trump had the unanimous support amongst House Republicans. In 1998, there were five Democrats who voted to impeach Bill Clinton. The final count was 232 to 197. The most senior Republican to vote against Trump was Liz Cheney, the daughter of the former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney and one seen for the future within the party. In a statement she said, ‘There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the constitution’.
Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker opened the impeachment debate on the House floor yesterday by arguing Trump ‘must go’. After the vote Pelosi signed the article of impeachment and declared ‘Today, in a bipartisan way, the House demonstrated that no one is above the law, not even the President of the United States and that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our country’.
After the vote Trump delivered his clearest condemnation yet of the violence. In a video posted on the White House's official Twitter account he stated ‘I want to be very clear. I unequivocally condemn the violence that we saw last week, violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country, and no place in our movement’. Horse and bolt come to mind.
One sobering aspect is the number of troops being drafted into Washington DC before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. There will be approximately double the amount of troops in the capital (20,000) on the 20th January as there are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.