1-13-2021 6:05pm

President Trump Impeached by the House; Dingell Votes Yes, Walberg Votes No

U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg was not among the 10 Republicans who sided with Democrats when the US House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump for "high crimes and misdemeanors" relating to his role in last week's attack on the Capitol.

Rep. Walberg, R-Tipton, represents Michigan's 7th Congressional District, which includes the City of Saline, and the townships of Lodi, York and Saline. Democrat Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, voted for impeachment. Dingell represents Michigan's 12th Congressional District, which includes Ann Arbor and Pittsfield Township.

Walberg, in a Facebook post, said the violence at the Capitol was sickening and must be condemned, but said a rushed impeachment would deepen the nation's turmoil.

"With only a week to go in President Trump's term, I oppose Speaker Pelosi’s ill-advised attempt to rush an impeachment resolution through the House of Representatives. All standard deliberative processes have been ignored, including a failure to hold any hearings, seriously examine evidence, or make the requisite case. The Senate cannot possibly be able to even begin considering the resolution until after the President leaves office," Walberg wrote. "This act will only deepen the nation’s divisions at a time of heightened turmoil."

Before the impeachment vote, Dingell said it was Congress's job to protect the country from enemies foreign and domestic and called President Trump called for the "seditious attack."

"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," Dingell wrote.

President Trump is the first president in US history to be impeached twice.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said the Senate's impeached trial would not start until next week and that a second trial could not be concluded before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated Jan. 20.

There are 14 Representatives of Michigan in the House. Nine voted in favor of impeachment and five voted against. All five who voted against impeachment were Republicans. Two Republicans, Fred Upton and Peter Meijer, voted yes on impeachment.

On Jan. 6, supporters of President Trump stormed the US House in an effort to disrupt the electoral college vote count. The violence led to five deaths and the evacuation and lockdown of the Capitol.

President Trump spoke at the protest before the violence erupted, telling protestors to "fight like hell" to take back the country.

Impeachment Resolution

Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Resolved, That Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that the following article of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate:

Article of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Article 1: Incitement of Insurrection

The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment” and that the President “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment, for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Further, section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits any person who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against” the United States from “hold[ing] and office … under the United States.’ In his conduct while President of the United States – and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, provide, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed – Donald John Trump engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States, in that:

On January 6, 2021, pursuant to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the House of Representatives, and the Senate met at the United States Capitol for a Joint Session of Congress to count the votes of the Electoral College. In the months preceding the Joint Session, President Trump repeatedly issued false statements asserting that the Presidential election results were the product of widespread fraud and should not be accepted by the American people or certified by State or Federal officials. Shortly before the Joint Session commenced, President Trump, addressed a crowd at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. There, he reiterated false claims that “we won this election, and we won it by a landslide.” He also willfully made statements that, in context, encouraged – and foreseeably resulted in – lawless action at the Capitol, such as: “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country any more.” Thus incited by President Trump, members of the crowd he had addressed, in an attempt to, among other objectives, interfere with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential election, unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and Congressional personnel, and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive and seditious acts.

President Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021, followed his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 Presidential election. Those prior efforts included a phone call on January 2, 2021, during which President Trump urged the secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to overturn the Georgia Presidential election results and threatened Secretary Raffensperger if he failed to do so.

In all this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.

Wherefore, Donald John Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. Donald John Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.