Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, and Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, have asked Vice President Mike Pence and President Trump’s cabinet to remove the president using the 25^th Amendment for his role in inciting insurrection. If Vice-President Pence does not do so, the Democrats are planning on introducing articles of impeachment against President Trump due to his role in initiating the invasion of the American Capitol. On Monday, 11^th January, the House Democrats are going to charge President Trump with “incitement of insurrection.” They believe President Trump encouraged the riot during which five people died. The bill to impeach was written by Congressmen David Cicilline, Rhode Island, and Ted Lieu, California, when they were ordered to shelter in place during the riot. About 160 Democrats from the House of Representatives have signed the bill.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, said they would move forward with impeachment if President Trump does not resign.

President-elect Joe Biden stated Congress can decide whether to impeach President Trump but said that he thought ‘for a long time President Trump was not fit to hold the job.’

Some Republicans have sided with the Democrats. Senator Ben Sasse, Nebraska, who has previously criticized President Trump, has said he would ‘definitely consider’ impeaching him.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, said that President Trump ‘needs to get out.’

Whereas the White House believes the impeachment is a ‘politically motivated’ move which would ‘only service to further divide our great country.’

Impeaching a president who not only condones but instigates violence to undermine a fair election would send a strong and much needed message to Trump’s supporters. They need to see that the election was not stolen. President Trump needs to understand that his words and actions have consequences. It would be unjust for the presidency to shield President Trump from what would otherwise be illegal.

However, it is unclear if President Trump can be impeached in time as an internal memo from the Senate states the earliest vote on an article of impeachment from the House would be the 19^th of January, a day before President Trump leaves office. Constitutional experts are divided on whether impeachment can proceed once President Trump’s term ends. Some contend that if it does and President Trump is convicted, he would lose benefits given to former presidents and the Senate could also bar him from holding public office permanently.

President Trump was impeached over allegations that he used support from Ukraine to boost his re-election chances. The Senate, though, acquitted the President of those charges. Since there is no indication of how many Republicans would vote for impeachment in the Senate, the House vote may only be symbolic. Nevertheless, this would be significant as it would convey there was an attempt to hold President Trump accountable for his part in instigating and condoning the invasion of Congress. It could be the first step in convicting President Trump of inciting a riot which has a sentence of ten years imprisonment. The Organization for World Peace will continue to monitor the situation.