House poised to impeach Trump: Pence’s 24-hour deadline, everything

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will give Vice President Mike Pence 24 hours to convene Trump’s cabinet secretaries to invoke the 25th Amendment before bringing impeachment legislation to the House floor. Pelosi said the House will call on Pence to immediately assume the powers and duties of the president. If Pence fails to respond, the House will move ahead with the article of impeachment, Pelosi said Sunday night in a statement.

“As the days go by, the horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action,” Pelosi said.

In a tweet Sunday evening, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu said the House will introduce the article of impeach on Monday: “Impeachment is one of the gravest powers of Congress. It should always be our last option. If @POTUS doesn’t resign or if @VP doesn’t invoke the 25th Amendment, then we will Impeach. Tomorrow we introduce the Article of Impeachment.”

Sunday Morning, Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, speaking on Fox News Sunday, said the House could vote on Wednesday. After that, the House would send the indictment to the Senate to trigger Trump’s impeachment trial, making him the first president to be impeached twice.

According to Lieu, the article of impeachment, which has 210 House cosponsors, will address Trump’s role in the violent riot at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, when a mob breached the building while seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election results confirming Joe Biden as the nation’s next president. The insurrection failed and Biden’s presidency was confirmed by the Senate.

More than 240 members of Congress are calling to remove Trump from office, including Republican Sens. Pat Toomey and Lisa Murkowski, and Republican Rep. Adam Kitzinger.

“I do think the president committed impeachable offenses,” Toomey said Saturday on Fox News, before saying Sunday that Trump’s resignation would be “the best path forward.”

Hours after last week’s deadly riot, Trump tweeted “Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!” Twitter blocked the tweet on Friday and permanently banned Trump’s Twitter account. In the tweet, Trump made false claims about the presidential election and suggested that those who stormed the Capitol were “patriots.”