SC’s Clyburn supports impeaching Trump after Capitol riot, reversing previous stance
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn said Thursday he would support impeaching President Donald Trump for a second time over the president’s role in a violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday.
“Time and circumstances may mitigate against invoking the 25th amendment, which I support, but there is time for impeachment which seems appropriate,” Clyburn tweeted Thursday afternoon.
The 25th Amendment to the Constitution allows the vice president and Cabinet secretaries to declare a president unable to perform the duties of the office, stripping him of his power.
The stance is a reversal of Clyburn’s position from just two days earlier, when the Columbia Democrat told CBS News he would not support a renewed effort to impeach the president over Trump’s call to Georgia’s secretary of state, asking the election official to “find” more votes for him.
“I would like someone to tell me how we can draw up impeachment proceedings and get all that done in 14-15 days,” Clyburn said at the time. “I don’t see how that can be done, and so why waste our time dealing with something that just cannot be done?”
The next day, a ceremonial meeting of Congress to affirm the results of the presidential election — where several Republican members objected to a certification of President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory — was disrupted for hours when Trump supporters overran barricades and occupied the Capitol building. Members of Congress quickly adjourned and were evacuated to secure locations before law enforcement was able to clear the building at the heart of American government.
Trump, who has disputed the election results for two months despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud being uncovered, spoke to a “Save America” rally of his supporters on the National Mall prior to a march on the Capitol where the meeting was being held.
Figures across the political spectrum blamed the president’s rhetoric and fervent pressure to overturn the election results for the violence that resulted in four deaths, including one woman who was shot and killed by Capitol police.
Other congressional leaders have called on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, said he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Pence on Thursday to urge him to take action to remove Trump from office, but that the vice president declined to take their call.
Pelosi said the House could also consider impeachment if executive branch officers don’t take action on their own.
Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives in December 2019, after official testimony and a phone call transcript indicated the president withheld needed military aid to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia so that the president could pressure the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. The Senate later acquitted Trump of the charges along a largely party-line vote.
Several Trump administration officials have resigned after Wednesday’s riot, including former S.C. congressman and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who stepped down from his position as presidential envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process.
Regardless of whether any new action is taken to remove Trump from office, the president’s term will expire at noon on Jan. 20, when Biden will be sworn in.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 5:45 PM.
.jpg)