WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2021) Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives are not actively withholding members of their party from voting to impeach President Donald Trump, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
House Republican leaders are making a tacit break with Trump ahead of Wednesday's vote to charge him with inciting insurrection over last week's riots on Capitol Hill, the report added.
Trump, who in 2019, became the first president ever to be impeached for inviting foreign interference in US elections, is facing the prospect for a second time on grounds of inciting his supporters to attack the Capitol last week to prevent Congress from certifying the election win of his rival Joe Biden.
While the president was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate after his first impeachment by the House, he might not have such an opportunity if impeached again when the next Senate, which will effectively have a Democrat majority, is in session.
While Republican and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, has said that he will "personally" oppose impeachment and sought to steer Republicans in a different direction, he had not officially leaned on lawmakers to vote against the move, the Times reported.
In the current Senate, Republican and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has also conspicuously declined to defend Trump while some senate Republicans had already called upon the president to resign.
If all senators were voting, 17 Republicans would have to join Democrats to convict Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors, and if they did so, a majority would be required to disqualify him from ever holding public office again.
Five people, including a policeman on duty and a female air force veteran who supported Trump, died during Wednesday's attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. The president has been under pressure since to resign before his term ends on January 20, or face impeachment for a second time since he came to office in 2016.
