WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th January, 2021) US House Democrats took steps to remove President Donald Trump from office over last week's riots on Capitol Hill just as US authorities warned that his supporters are planning armed protests in all fifty states.
On January 6, after a fiery speech by the president, Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill as Congress was certifying Joe Biden's presidential election victory. At least five died, including a police officer, and more than 100 were arrested in connection with the riots.
House Democrats took steps on two fronts to remove Trump: urging Vice President Mike Pence to invoke emergency powers in addition to passing articles of impeachment. House Republicans early on Monday blocked an attempt by Democrats to unanimously approve a measure urging Pence to invoke the 25th amendment which calls for the vice president to take power if a president is deemed unable to discharge his duties.
The House will consider a resolution on Tuesday for a full vote. If Pence fails to act the Democrats said they are preparing to take an alternative route.
On Monday, House Democrats formally introduced an article of impeachment against the incumbent, accusing him of inciting an insurrection on Capitol Hill last week. The document said on January 6 Trump during a speech near the White House reiterated false claims that the election was stolen and told his supporters "if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore."
These statements, according to the article, "foreseeably resulted" in lawless action at the Capitol as a Joint Session of Congress was assembled to count the votes of the Electoral College. "Thus incited by President Trump," the document said, members of the crowd interfered with the Joint Session, unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol and injured and killed a law enforcement officer. The article said Trump's supporters engaged in other "violent, deadly, destructive and seditious acts."
Democratic hopes that Pence would invoke the 25th amendment, however, were quashed when the White House announced that Pence and Trump met on Monday and pledged to work together for the rest of their term. The meeting reportedly marked the first time Trump and Pence talked since the riots.
Trump and Pence reiterated that the protesters that stormed the US Capitol building do not represent the 75 million Americans that voted for them in the 2020 US election, an official said in a statement after the meeting in the Oval Office.
Republican leaders including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senator Lindsey Graham have warned that impeaching Trump with less than two weeks before his term ends was not appropriate. McCarthy in a letter to colleagues on Monday said that impeaching Trump "would have the opposite effect of bringing our country together."
The timing of the efforts to remove the president might be poorly-timed given US federal and state authorities are preparing for possible violent nationwide protests by pro-Trump supporters leading up to Biden's inauguration on January 20.
"Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the US Capitol from 17 January through 20 January," the FBI said in a bulletin as quoted by multiple media outlets on Monday.
The FBI said it is gathering information to identify potential threats and sharing that information with its partners.
"Our focus is not on peaceful protesters, but on those threatening their safety and the safety of other citizens with violence and destruction of property," the FBI told Sputnik.
Defense Department spokesman Chris Mitchell told Sputnik up to 15,000 National Guard troops will be deployed in Washington, DC to boost security. Earlier the National Guard said it was meeting requests from the Secret Service, Capitol Police, and Park Police ahead of the inauguration.
In addition, Trump himself even declared an emergency to mobilize resources ahead of the events.
"Today, President Donald J. Trump declared that an emergency exists in the District of Columbia and ordered Federal assistance to supplement the District's response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from the 59th Presidential Inauguration from January 11 to January 24, 2021," the White House said in a statement on Monday.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers' office in a press release said he has activated the National Guard to help protect the state Capitol building ahead of a potential armed protest. Several other states said they are boosting security at their respective capitols as well.
Despite the alarms, the situation near the US Capitol was calm on Monday with only tourists and a few film crews in the vicinity, a Sputnik correspondent reported. Some national guard were positioned on the periphery, albeit unarmed, while no Trump supporters were seen.
Meanwhile, people carried flowers to posters with the name of the policeman who died during the riots - a kind of memorial in front of the Capitol.
