US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has been impeached for a historic second time, just days before leaving office by the House of Representatives for inciting last week’s deadly Capitol Hill riot. The House on Wednesday impeached Trump by 232 to 197 votes. Ten Republican Congressmen also joined the Democrats to vote in favour of an article of impeachment that charged Trump with a count of “incitement of insurrection” for his actions on January 6, when he delivered a speech inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol. Trump will now face a trial in the Senate, where if convicted he could face being barred from ever holding office again. The Senate is adjourned till January 19, a day before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States. Four Congressmen did not vote. All four Indian-American House members – Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Pramila Jayapal – voted in favour of the impeachment.

 

The House went ahead with the impeachment after Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday refused to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump, a Republican, from office. The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives passed a resolution on Tuesday night by 223 to 205 votes, calling upon Pence to mobilise the Cabinet to activate the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office. The 25th Amendment, adopted more than 50 years ago in the wake of President John F Kennedy’s assassination, provides a mechanism for the succession of the president for his or her replacement in the event he or she proves unfit to serve. Under the amendment, the Vice President and a majority of either the Cabinet or some other body designated by Congress may remove the president from office.

 

The impeachment now moves to the Senate, which will conduct a trial and a voting to remove the president from office. The Senate is adjourned till January 19, a day before the inauguration of Joe Biden, a Democrat, as the 46th President of the United States. However, he will not have to quit the White House before his term ends as the Senate is out of regular session. It would take unanimous consent for the Senate to return before then. “We know that the President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country. He must go,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, participating in the impeachment debate. “He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love. Since the presidential election in November – an election the President lost – he has repeatedly held about – lied about the outcome, sowed self-serving doubt about democracy and unconstitutionally sought to influence state officials to repeal reality. And then, came that day of fire we all experienced,” she said. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the actions of the President of the United States demanded an urgent and clear action by the Congress.

 

“He ought to be removed. And we have that opportunity to do so. Is there little time left? Yes. But it is never too late to do the right thing,” Hoyer said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not yet announced the dates for the trial. In a statement, he said a trial is unlikely before Biden becomes the president of the country. Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow said he would vote to remove the president. The Democrats need 17 Republican votes to impeach Trump in the Senate. With this, Trump has become the first US President to be impeached twice.

 

Trump Twitter ban is ‘right’ but ‘dangerous’: Twitter CEO” :TWITTER CEO Jack Dorsey has defended his company’s unprecedented decision to permanently suspend US President Donald Trump from the popular social media site, but warned that it could set a “dangerous precedent” and reflective of the company’s failure “to promote healthy conversation” across its platforms. Dorsey broke his silence since the company’s major decision in a series of tweets on Wednesday. YouTube suspends Trump’s channel for 7 days: YOUTUBE has temporarily suspended the account of United States President Donald Trump, preventing all video uploads by the channel for the next seven days, amid concerns over “ongoing potential for violence”.