Four Republican members of the US House said on Tuesday they will join Democrats in impeaching President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Reps. John Katko, R-N.Y., Liz Cheney, R-Wy., Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and Fred Upton, R-Mich., made their announcements on Tuesday, setting the stage for additional Republicans to join them. Their votes will come one week after a violent mob stormed the US Capitol during the counting of Electoral College votes. The riot was caused by supporters of Trump who were attempting to disrupt the declaration of Joe Biden as president-elect.
Moments before the riot, Trump addressed those in attendance before the storming of the Capitol.
“It cannot be ignored that President Trump encouraged this insurrection – both on social media ahead of January 6th, and in his speech that day,” Katko said. “By deliberately promoting baseless theories suggesting the election was somehow stolen, the president created a combustible environment of misinformation, disenfranchisement, and division. When this manifested in violent acts on January 6th, he refused to promptly and forcefully call it off, putting countless lives in danger.”
All told, five people died during the riot, including a Capitol police officer.
Moments after Katko’s announcement, Cheney, the third-ranking member of the GOP caucus, announced her support of Trump’s impeachment. Cheney is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
"The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President,” Cheney wrote.
"There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States, of his office and his oath to the Constitution," Cheney added.