Second impeachment’s the charm

This piece was originally published in the January 13, 2021 edition of CAP Action’s daily newsletter, the Progress Report. Subscribe to the Progress Report here.

“What does it mean when they boo the Black congresswoman denouncing white supremacy?”

— Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO)

The House just impeached Trump — this time for inciting an insurrection against the United States.

Now, the Senate must remove him from office.

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IN THE NEWS

• A bipartisan majority of the House impeached Trump again today in a historic second rebuke of a president. Here’s how the unshakeable Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) explained her vote to impeach, sparking boos from across the aisle: “If we fail to remove a white supremacist president who incited a white supremacist insurrection, it’s communities like Missouri’s first district that suffer the most. The 117th Congress must understand that we have a mandate to legislate in defense of Black lives.”
• House Democrats say they intend to move quickly by sending the articles of impeachment immediately over for Senate consideration. But the outgoing Senate Majority Leader doesn’t plan to do the same, he said in an announcement today — all the more outrageous given rumors that he might support Trump’s impeachment and knows the right thing to do.
• The Capitol insurrection was likely much, much worse than we know — and it’s starting to look less and less like a spontaneous attack. Representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), both of whom are Black, said their staff discovered their panic buttons were missing from their offices last Wednesday. And Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and others wrote in a letter yesterday that they’d seen members of Congress ushering around groups that appeared to be associated with the insurrection through non-public areas of the Capitol prior to the attack in what Sherrill described as a “reconnaissance” tour.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• Members of Congress are blatantly ignoring new security protocols intended to keep weapons and other prohibited items out of the House chamber. Hill reporters have been documenting a seemingly endless list of House Republicans who have walked around the “mandatory” metal detectors at the chamber entrance without interference from Capitol Police. And while many are likely defying the rules to make a point, some may actually be security concerns — including one new member who refused to have her purse searched today and who recently filmed a video touting her plan to carry a weapon into the House chamber.
• More and more companies have announced that they would stop donating to the campaigns of the Republicans who voted to invalidate the election results last week. But a new report from Public Citizen outlines $170 million in contributions that these companies have already donated to the members that betrayed the will of the people and contributed to the incitement of last week’s attack. You can read the full report here.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• We have one shot to protect jobless benefits. Let’s go big. by Ron Wyden (Data for Progress)
• The Thoroughly Respectable Capitol Rioters by Adam Serwer (The Atlantic)
• Anti-Abortion Activists Were All Over the Capitol Riots by Carter Sherman (VICE)
• I’m 75. I had cancer. I got covid-19 because my GOP colleagues dismiss facts. by Bonnie Watson Coleman (Washington Post)
• Grieving Son’s Death, Maryland Lawmaker Fights to Impeach Trump by Sheryl Gay Stolberg (New York Times)