WILMINGTON: US President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday (local time) reiterated his hope that the Senate will be able to carry out their regular legislative duties while dealing with responsibilities pertaining to President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the upper chamber.
Biden, in a statement, after the US House of Representatives impeached Trump for ‘inciting’ last week’s violence at Capitol Hill, termed the attack as “an armed insurrection” and called for the outgoing President to be “held accountable” for causing the riot.
“Today, the members of the House of Representatives exercised the power granted to them under our Constitution and voted to impeach and hold the president accountable. It was a bipartisan vote cast by members who followed the Constitution and their conscience. The process continues to the Senate,” the President-elect said.
“This nation also remains in the grip of a deadly virus and a reeling economy. I hope that the Senate leadership will find a way to deal with their Constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation,” he added.
Calling Capitol Hill violence an unprecedented attack on democracy, the President-elect slammed Trump saying, “This criminal attack was planned and coordinated. It was carried out by political extremists and domestic terrorists, who were incited to this violence by President Trump.”
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday (local time) impeached Trump for “inciting” last week’s deadly violence at Capitol Hill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed the impeachment making Trump the first US president to be impeached twice. Congress voted 232 to 197 on the single article of impeachment charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection”.
Trump now faces a trial in the Senate. According to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, the trial is unlikely to be held before January 20, the inauguration of incoming president Joe Biden.
A total of 10 Republicans broke ranks with the GOP to join their Democrat colleagues to vote in the impeachment resolution, in contrast to the year 2020, when not a single Republican voted for Trump’s impeachment.
On January 6, a group of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol to protest legislators confirming electoral slates from battleground US states they thought were invalid. Trump had made a speech among thousands of supporters earlier that day reiterated his claim a massive voter fraud had robbed his election victory and encouraged followers to maintain support to “stop the steal.”
Five people died in the riot, including one police officer and one Air Force veteran and a Trump supporter who was shot dead by police. (ANI)
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