Author: PolitCens

At least 15,000 armed National Guard troops will provide support for U.S. Capitol security before and during the inauguration of President-election Joe Biden on January 20. Daria Dieguts has more on the National Guard and its role.Camera: Sergey Sokolov
 
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At age 22, poet Amanda Gorman, chosen to read at the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, already has a history of writing for official occasions.
 
“I have kind of stumbled upon this genre. It’s been something I find a lot of emotional reward in, writing something I can make people feel touched by, even if it’s just for a night,” says Gorman. The Los Angeles resident has written for everything from a July 4 celebration featuring the Boston Pops Orchestra to the inauguration at Harvard University, her alma mater, of school president Larry Bacow.
 
When she reads next Wednesday, she will be continuing a tradition — for Democratic presidents — that includes such celebrated poets as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou.  
 
The latter’s “On the Pulse of Morning,” written for the 1993 inauguration of President Bill Clinton, went on to sell more than 1 million copies when published in book form. Recent readers include poets Elizabeth Alexander and Richard Blanco, both of whom Gorman has been in touch with.  
 
“The three of us are together in mind, body and spirit,” she says.  
 
Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in memory, and she has made news before. In 2014, she was named the first Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, and three years later she became the country’s first National Youth Poet Laureate. She has appeared on MTV; written a tribute to Black athletes for Nike; published her first book, “The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough,” as a teenager, and has a two-book deal with Viking Children’s Books. The first work, the picture book “Change Sings,” comes out later this year.  
 
Gorman says she was contacted late last month by the Biden inaugural committee. She has known numerous public figures, including former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former first lady Michelle Obama, but says she will be meeting the Bidens for the first time. The Bidens, apparently, have been aware of her: Gorman says the inaugural officials told her she had been recommended by the incoming first lady, Jill Biden.  
 
She is calling her inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb” while otherwise declining to preview any lines. Gorman says she was not given specific instructions on what to write, but was encouraged to emphasize unity and hope over “denigrating anyone” or declaring “ding, dong, the witch is dead” over the departure of President Donald Trump.  
 
The siege last week of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn the election was a challenge for keeping a positive tone, but also an inspiration. Gorman says that she has been given 5 minutes to read, and before what she described during an interview as “the Confederate insurrection” of Jan. 6 she had only written about 3 1-2 minutes worth.  
 
The final length runs to about 6 minutes.  
 
“That day gave me a second wave of energy to finish the poem,” says Gorman, adding that she will not refer directly to Jan. 6, but will “touch” upon it. She said last week’s events did not upend the poem she had been working on because they didn’t surprise her.
 
“The poem isn’t blind,” she says. “It isn’t turning your back to the evidence of discord and division.”
 
In other writings, Gorman has honored her ancestors, acknowledged and reveled in her own vulnerability (“Glorious in my fragmentation,” she has written) and confronted social issues. Her poem “In This Place (An American Lyric),” written for the 2017 inaugural reading of U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, condemns the racist march in Charlottesville, Virginia (“tiki torches string a ring of flame”) and holds up her art form as a force for democracy.
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In a new CBS/YouGov poll, 21% of Republicans said they approved of the bloody siege on the U.S. Congress by supporters of President Donald Trump. Many more believe the November election was rigged. As the U.S. heads into a turbulent transition of power, Patsy Widakuswara has the story on this divided and angry nation.
Producer: Bakhtiyar Zamanov
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft met virtually with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen Wednesday night after her trip this week was canceled. Ties between the United States and Taiwan have been growing under the Trump administration, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week lifting restrictions on contacts between the two democracies. VOA State Department Correspondent Nike Ching has more on what comes next for the incoming administration.
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Democratic impeachment managers are planning to showcase President Donald Trump’s role leading up to last week’s deadly rampage at the U.S. Capitol as it tries to convict him of inciting insurrection at a Senate impeachment trial that is set to start soon after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated next Wednesday. Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado told CNN on Thursday that she and other impeachment managers would show video of rioters storming the Capitol shortly after Trump implored them at a rally to walk to the Capitol to “fight” to overturn his election loss to Biden. At the time, lawmakers were in the initial stages of certifying the Electoral College vote showing Biden had won. FILE – Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., walks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 13, 2021.“This is a situation where the president committed his offense right there on national TV. We’re going to be getting footage. We’re going to be telling the story to the senators,” DeGette said a day after the House of Representatives voted 232-197 to impeach Trump. Ten Republican lawmakers turned against Trump, a fellow Republican, joining all House Democrats in the majority. The House vote made Trump the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. In late 2019 he was impeached by the House for soliciting Ukraine’s help in digging up dirt against Biden ahead of the November election, but was acquitted by the Senate last February. DeGette, a lawyer, said impeachment managers are considering calling several witnesses at Trump’s trial, which has yet to be scheduled. She said among the witnesses being considered are victims of the deadly attack, as well as Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, who Trump pushed days before the January 6 attack on the Capitol to “find” enough votes, more than 11,000, for him to overturn Biden’s victory in the southern state. FILE – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger waves to photographers as he walks to his office in the Capitol Building, in Atlanta, Jan. 4, 2021.“He could talk about his conversation with the president, how the president tried to pressure him to change the legal result of the election,” DeGette said of Raffensperger. The hour-long January 2 call Trump made to Raffensperger is referenced in the impeachment resolution passed by the House on Wednesday that charges Trump with “incitement of insurrection.” FILE – Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., speaks during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, on Dec. 1, 2020.DeGette rebuffed the claim by some Republicans, including Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, that Trump should not be tried after he leaves office next week. No president has ever been tried for impeachment after his White House term ended, although other U.S. officials have been tried after leaving office. “They could prevent him from ever holding office again,” DeGette said of the senators hearing the Trump impeachment case. “They could prevent him from getting all of the perks of a retired president, and it seems to me that given the egregiousness with which he acted, we should take this kind of a step.” A two-thirds vote would be required to convict Trump in a Senate that will be split evenly 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats by the time the trial starts, meaning 17 Republicans would have to turn against Trump for a conviction. FILE – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky walks from the Senate floor to his office on Capitol Hill, Jan. 6, 2021.Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader, has been a staunch ally of Trump during his four-year presidency, but told his Republican colleagues on Wednesday, “I have not made a final decision on how I will vote, and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate.” Shortly after the House vote, Biden said he hoped his initial legislative proposals would not be sidetracked. “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,” Biden said. The chief impeachment manager, Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, told National Public Radio that he does not consider the case against Trump to be “a punitive instrument. It is a protective instrument, and we need to protect our people.” FILE – Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., left, walks with Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 13, 2021.“Right now,” Raskin said, “the same violent white supremacist mobs that attacked us last week have said they’re coming back to Washington” for the events surrounding Biden’s inauguration. “This is a clear and present danger. People who think that we should just, you know, let bygones be bygones are not dealing with the reality of what took place last Wednesday and the continuing violent threat to republican government in the United States.” Raskin said he thinks senators hearing the case against Trump “are going to look very carefully at what took place in this absolutely unprecedented attack on their chamber and on the peaceful transfer of power.” “Remember, all of this took place on Wednesday, January 6, for a reason,” Raskin said. “This was a concentrated, determined attack on our form of government.” But one Trump official, trade adviser Peter Navarro, staunchly defended the president and assailed the impeachment vote. FILE – White House trade adviser Peter Navarro speaks during an interview at the White House, April 6, 2020.“What happened (Wednesday) was a travesty,” Navarro told Fox News. “The Democratic Party did violence to this country by attacking a president who I believe was legally elected on November 3. If the election were held today, he’d be elected again.” “So, I would say to these people on Capitol Hill, knock it off, stop this,” Navarro said. “Let the man leave peacefully, with his dignity. He was the greatest jobs president, the greatest trade negotiator we’ve ever had. This is just wrong what they’re doing.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer rebuffed any challenge to proceeding with the case against Trump. “Make no mistake, there will be an impeachment trial in the United States Senate; there will be a vote on convicting the president for high crimes and misdemeanors; and if the president is convicted, there will be a vote on barring him from running again,” he said. 
 
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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden unveiled a coronavirus response plan Thursday evening, emphasizing the urgency of passing legislation to help Americans through the pandemic and the economic crisis it has wrought.”During this pandemic, millions of Americans, through no fault of their own, have lost the dignity and respect that comes with a paycheck,” Biden said in an address introducing the American Rescue Plan.Biden’s plan includes a new round of direct payments of $1,400 for most Americans, funding to promote the safe opening of schools and mounting a national vaccine program. Also included is $400 a week in additional unemployment insurance, through September.Providing relief to small businesses, notably those owned by entrepreneurs of color, was also detailed in the plan.The plan, which the transition team described as “ambitious, but achievable,” is estimated to total $1.9 trillion, according to a statement released ahead of Biden’s speech.FILE – Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks during a hearing about border security, May 8, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington.That is a figure Republicans called too large not that long ago.”Remember that a bipartisan $900 billion #COVID19 relief bill became law just 18 days ago,” Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn tweeted.This time, Biden, a Democrat, will have a Democratically controlled House, by a slim margin, and Senate split 50-50 with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris available to break ties.One Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, on January 8 tweeted: “If the next round of stimulus checks goes out they should be targeted to those who need it.”Biden had already set a goal of administering 100 million vaccine shots in the first 100 days after he takes office on January 20. Thursday’s plan included details of a $20 billion national plan that will include funding for community centers and mobile vaccination centers for remote areas, in coordination with state and local governments.FILE – John Lewis, a resident of Harmony Court Assisted Living, waits as Walgreens pharmacist Valencia Carter administers the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Jan. 12, 2021, in Jackson, Miss.”This will be one of the most challenging operational efforts we have ever undertaken as a nation,” Biden said Thursday.”We’ll have to move heaven and Earth to get more people vaccinated,” he added.The U.S. government has approved two different vaccines for emergency use. Both require a two-shot regimen. So far, more than 10 million people have received the first dose.More testingThursday’s plan also emphasizes the need of increased testing to stop the spread of the disease as populations are being vaccinated, employing more people in the public health field to help with efforts to contain the virus. In addition to funding to ensure the safe opening of schools, it details increases to food stamp programs and restrictions against evictions and foreclosures.Biden intends to follow his rescue plan with a recovery package that will extend moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures until September and offer money to help people pay their rent and utilities.FILE – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., meet with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 12, 2020.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a joint statement Thursday that they looked forward to working with Biden on his plan.“House and Senate Democrats express gratitude toward and look forward to working with the President-elect on the rescue plan,” the statement read.ImpeachmentThe impeachment of President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatens to crowd the Senate calendar, but Biden said he hoped the Senate could balance impeachment with other priorities.The United States has recorded more than 388,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, and for more than two months, the nation has been dealing with its worst surge in infections.During the past week, the country has added an average of 245,000 new cases per day with 3,300 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are at record highs.
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The Democratic-majority US House impeached President Donald Trump Wednesday, charging him with inciting an insurrection attempting to overturn the Electoral College vote count at the US Capitol last week. As VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, the trial in the US Senate will not start until after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated next week.
Producers: Katherine Gypson and Jesse Oni 
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The same day the U.S. Congress voted to impeach President Donald Trump for a second time, the nation’s capital prepared to welcome thousands more National Guard troops to help keep the peace during next week’s transfer of power.“I think you can expect to see somewhere upwards of beyond 20,000 members of the National Guard that will be here,” Robert Contee, acting chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, told reporters Wednesday.Defense officials confirmed the increased authorization, which came just days after the National Guard said it was sending up to 15,000 troops to the city to help with security ahead of the January 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in November’s election.Officials said 10,000 guardsmen — part-time soldiers who can be deployed overseas but who are often called upon to help with emergencies in their home states — are expected to be on duty in Washington by Friday. The rest will arrive soon afterward.More than 6,000 National Guard troops have been on duty in Washington and at the Capitol itself since pro-Trump extremists stormed the building last Wednesday.National Guardsmen are seen Jan. 13, 2021, at a fence that was erected to reinforce security at the Capitol in Washington.In a statement issued Monday, General Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said the Guard’s role was to “support security, logistics, liaison and communication missions.” But since late Tuesday, National Guard forces working at the Capitol have also been carrying weapons.“This was requested by federal authorities and authorized by the Secretary of the Army,” the D.C. National Guard said in a statement. “The public’s safety is our top priority.”Images of armed soldiers in fatigues guarding the Capitol while others lined the hallways spread on social media Wednesday, along with photos of recently installed fencing and metal barriers.Videos and photos also showed images of streets blocked off by military vehicles while workers put up even more fencing.In contrast, when Trump was inaugurated four years ago, only about 8,000 National Guard members were on hand to help with security.Trump statementIn an attempt to calm tensions, the White House on Wednesday issued a statement from Trump, calling on those planning to protest in Washington to abide by the law.“In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind,” Trump said. “That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for.”In a video released hours later, Trump called on Americans to “overcome the passions of the moment.”He also spoke to his supporters about the siege of the Capitol.“Mob violence goes against everything I believe in and everything our movement stands for,” Trump said.“No true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence” he added. “No true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement or our great American flag.”pic.twitter.com/FIJbvCYGJ6— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 13, 2021Despite such pleas, government officials have been moving ahead with additional security precautions, closing down more streets around the Capitol, while restricting access to lawmakers, their staff members and security personnel.Other Washington landmarks are also off limits.The National Park Service announced earlier this week that the Washington Monument was closed to visitors until after the inauguration. It said other parts of the National Mall could also be closed in the coming days.Officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned this week that armed protesters might be headed to Washington early next week, with posts on social media suggesting they were ready to engage in some sort of “uprising.”FBI Examines Threats to Biden Inauguration  Officials say they are worried about groups bent on “violence and destruction of property,” as the National Guard authorizes up to 15,000 troops to help with security “The events of Jan. 6 serve as a stark reminder of the criticality of comprehensive security planning,” the U.S. Secret Service, which is now leading planning efforts, said in a statement.“As is always the case, security during a National Special Security Event (NSSE) is a layered network of operations, seen and unseen, that run in tandem with federal, state and local law enforcement, military, and public safety entities,” it added.Tori Sneden contributed to this report.
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The Trump administration said Wednesday that it would slash millions of acres of protected habitat designated for the imperiled northern spotted owl in Oregon, Washington state and Northern California, much of it in prime timber locations in Oregon’s coastal ranges. Environmentalists immediately decried the move and accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under President Donald Trump of taking a parting shot at protections designed to help restore the species in favor of the timber industry.  The tiny owl is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and was rejected for an upgrade to endangered status last year by the federal agency, despite losing nearly 4% of its population annually. “This revision guts protected habitat for the northern spotted owl by more than a third. It’s Trump’s latest parting gift to the timber industry and another blow to a species that needs all the protections it can get to fully recover,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity. FILE – A large fir tree heads to the forest floor after it is cut by a logger in the Umpqua National Forest near Oakridge, Ore., in this undated file photo.Timber groups applauded the decision, which will not take effect for 60 days. More thinning and management of protected forests is necessary to prevent wildfires, which devastated about 121 hectares (300 acres) of spotted owl habitat last fall, said Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resources Council. Loss of the ability to log in areas protected for the spotted owl has devastated rural communities, he said. The 1.4 million hectares (4.4 million acres) removed from federal protections Wednesday includes all of Oregon’s so-called O&C lands, which are big timber territory. The more than 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) are spread in a checkerboard pattern over 18 counties in western Oregon. “This rule rights a wrong imposed on rural communities and businesses and gives us a chance to restore balance to federal forest management and species conservation in the Pacific Northwest,” Joseph said. 1990 federal protections The Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in a settlement with the timber industry to reevaluate the spotted owls’ protected territory following a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a different federally protected species. The Trump administration has moved to roll back protections for waterways and wetlands, narrow protections for wildlife facing extinction, and open more public land to oil and gas drilling. But for decades, the federal government has been trying to save the northern spotted owl, a native bird that sparked an intense battle over logging across Washington, Oregon and California. The dark-eyed owl prefers to nest in old-growth forests and received federal protections in 1990, a listing that dramatically redrew the economic landscape for the Pacific Northwest timber industry and launched a decadeslong battle between environmentalists and loggers. Old-growth Douglas firs, many 100 to 200 years old, that are preferred by the owl are also of great value to loggers. 
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New York City, U.S. President Donald Trump’s hometown, says it will cancel all contracts with his business organization because of the deadly insurrection by Trump supporters last week at the U.S. Capitol. “The City of New York will not be associated with those unforgiveable acts in any shape, way or form,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday in a formal statement.  De Blasio said he has begun the process of “severing all contracts” to operate a carousel and two ice rinks in Central Park that net Trump’s company about $17 million a year.Trump’s son, Eric, denounced the move and said it would be challenged.“Yet another example of Mayor de Blasio’s incompetence and blatant disregard for the facts,” he said.  “The City of New York has no legal right to end our contracts and if they elect to proceed, they will owe the Trump Organization $30 million. This is nothing more than political discrimination and we plan to fight vigorously.”De Blasio’s decision is the latest example of how the January 6 riot by Trump supporters is adversely affecting the president’s private business affairs. The announcement came three days after the Professional Golfers Association of America voted to move next year’s PGA Championship away from Trump’s New Jersey golf course. Shopify previously took down online stores affiliated with the embattled president, while Twitter and other social media platforms disabled his accounts.On January 6, Trump implored the thousands of supporters who had come to Washington for a “Save America March” to march on the U.S. Capitol building, as lawmakers began to formally certify President-elect Joe Biden’s November 3 election victory.   “You will have an illegitimate president. That is what you will have, and we can’t let that happen,” Trump told the rally. “We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”Taking their cue from the president, thousands of Trump supporters walked to the Capitol, where many pushed past police barricades and forced their way inside.  Six people died in the melee. The Democrat-led House of Representatives is expected to approve one article of impeachment Wednesday charging the Republican president with inciting insurrection. The third-ranking Republican House member, Liz Cheney, is among a handful of Republican lawmakers who have said they will vote to impeach Trump. If the House impeaches Trump, as expected, it would be the second time he has met that fate. Trump was first impeached in December 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice because of his efforts to persuade the newly elected president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to investigate Joe Biden and Biden’s son to strengthen his chances of reelection in the 2020 presidential race.The Senate acquitted Trump of the charges in February 2020.  It is not clear when the Senate might again put the president on trial.
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The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted in favor of an unprecedented second impeachment of President Donald Trump, with the majority Democrats accusing him of inciting insurrection by encouraging what became a deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol. The final vote tally was 232 – 197. Ten Republicans joined Democrats in approving the measure.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump a threat to “liberty, self-government and the rule of law.” 
 U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) walks to the House Chamber as Democrats debate an article of impeachment against President Donald Trump at the Capitol, in Washington, D.C.But a staunch Trump supporter, Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, said impeachment “doesn’t unite the country. This is about politics.” Democrats, he said, “want to cancel the president.” 
 
The thin Democratic majority in the House has enough votes on its own to impeach Trump a week before his four-year term ends at noon January 20 and Democrat Joe Biden is inaugurated as the country’s new leader.  
 
A small number of Republicans, however, also is expected to join in a vote that will brand Trump, a Republican, with a singular distinction in U.S. history — the first of the country’s 45 presidents to be impeached twice. Eight House Republicans have now announced they will vote for Chief Justice John Roberts, followed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., left, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., leaves the Senate chamber after presiding over the impeachment trial and the acquittal of President Donald…First impeachment
The House, with no Republican votes, impeached Trump in late 2019 for trying to get Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden ahead of the November election. Trump was acquitted in February after a 20-day Senate trial.  
 
Biden won the presidency with a decisive majority in the Electoral College that is determinative in U.S. presidential elections. Congress early last Thursday certified the Electoral College outcome but not before a pro-Trump mob stormed into the Capitol, occupying and ransacking some congressional offices and scuffling with police. 
 
As the House debated the ground rules for the proceeding, Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said the impeachment debate was occurring at “an actual crime scene” — the House chamber occupied by some of the rioters before police regained control. 
 
“We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the president of the United States,” McGovern said, adding that “the cause of this violence resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” the White House address.  
 Capitol police officers in riot gear push back demonstrators who try to break a door of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)’Incitement of insurrection’
At a rally a week ago, Trump urged his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight” to overturn his election loss. But with security officials warning of more possible violence surrounding next week’s inauguration ceremony, Trump issued a statement Wednesday imploring his supporters to remain peaceful.  “In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind. That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers. Thank You,” the statement said.
Nevertheless, Congressman Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader, said during Wednesday’s floor debate that Trump had “brought shame and disorder to the presidency” and “weaponized hate.” 
 
Congressman Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, opposed Trump’s impeachment a week before leaves office, saying, “I can think of nothing that would cause further division more than the path the majority is now taking. Rather than looking ahead to a new administration, the majority is again seeking to settle scores against the old one.” 
 
Congressman Jason Smith of Missouri, another Republican, said, “Let’s put people before politics. This is a reckless impeachment.” 
 FILE – Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 17, 2019.Republican support
Still, several Republicans said they would join the majority Democrats in voting for impeachment. 
 
Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a member of the Republican Party’s House leadership team, in explaining her support for impeachment Tuesday night, said there “has never been a greater betrayal” by a U.S. president. 
 
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, a close Trump ally, said “impeachment at this time would have the opposite effect of bringing our country together.” But the Republican leadership said it would not try to pressure its party members to oppose impeachment if they chose not to.  
 President Donald Trump speaks near a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, in Alamo, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)Trump digs in
On a visit Tuesday to the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump said the push to impeach him again is “causing tremendous anger and division and pain far greater than most people will ever understand, which is very dangerous for the USA, especially at this very tender time.” 
 
He urged “peace and calm” and said now is a “time for law and a time for order.” 
 
Trump, who in a video last week told the mob of his supporters “we love you, you’re very special,” did not answer questions from reporters. 
 Rep. Jami Raskin (D-MD) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) walk through the U.S. Capitol, as Democrats debate one article of impeachment against U.S. President Donald Trump, in Washington, Jan. 13, 2021.Impeachment managers
Late Tuesday, Pelosi announced her choice of Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland to lead a group of nine impeachment managers. 
 
“It is their constitutional and patriotic duty to present the case for the President’s impeachment and removal,” Pelosi said in a statement. “They will do so guided by their great love of country, determination to protect our democracy and loyalty to our oath to the Constitution. Our managers will honor their duty to defend democracy for the people with great solemnity, prayerfulness and urgency.” 
 
It is unclear whether House leaders would immediately send the impeachment resolution to the Senate, given that Trump’s term ends in a week.   
 
The impeachment resolution cites Trump’s unfounded accusations that he was cheated out of a second term by voting and vote-counting irregularities, his pressure on election officials in the southern state of Georgia to “find” him more than 11,000 votes to overtake Biden’s margin of victory in the state, and his statements at a rally last Wednesday urging thousands of supporters to march to the Capitol to pressure lawmakers to overturn the election outcome.   
 U.S. President-elect Joe Biden speaks about the protests taking place in and around the U.S. Capitol in Washington as the U.S. Congress held a joint session to certify the 2020 election results, at a news conference at his transition headquarters.Biden on impeachment
Biden said it is his “hope and expectation” the Senate could simultaneously hold an impeachment trial and confirm his Cabinet appointments after he takes office, while also approving more aid for the flagging U.S. economy weakened by the soaring coronavirus pandemic.   
 
He said Monday of the rioters, “It is critically important that there’ll be a real serious focus on holding those folks who engaged in sedition and threatening the lives, defacing public property, caused great damage—that they be held accountable.” 
 
Dozens of rioters already have been arrested and federal authorities are investigating many more, scouring security camera recordings from the Capitol to identify wrongdoers and searching social media videos the rioters posted of themselves in the building.    
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U.S. prosecutors say they have identified more than 170 people for potential criminal charges in connection with the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol and that they expect that number to run into the hundreds in the coming weeks as a massive nationwide hunt for the pro-Trump rioters continues.    Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters Tuesday that more than 70 people have been charged since the deadly attack by supporters of President Donald Trump, with prosecutors pursuing charges against at least 100 others.”That number, I suspect, is going to grow into the hundreds,” Sherwin said during a press conference at the Department of Justice.   FILE – Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin speaks during a news conference in Washington, Jan. 12, 2021.The effort to investigate the riots and track down all those responsible is likely to drag on for months if not longer, said Sherwin, who is running the probe.   “This is going to be a long-term investigation,” he said. “Everyone is in it for the long haul.”  The attack, which left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer and a pro-Trump supporter killed by police, has led to a Democratic push in the House of Representatives to impeach Trump for inciting the violence by urging his supporters to march on the Capitol. House members are preparing to vote on one article of impeachment on Wednesday, making Trump the only American president to be impeached twice.   Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday those who participated in the mob pose a threat to national security and should be placed on a federal no-fly list.  FILE – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters during a news conference in New York, Jan. 12, 2021.”We cannot allow these same insurrectionists to get on a plane and cause more violence and more damage,” Schumer said at a news conference. The New York Democrat is about the become majority leader of the Senate once his party takes control.   The FBI, which has received more than 100,000 digital tips about the incident, said it is “actively” considering the no-fly list idea.   The federal probe of the deadly breach of the Capitol is rapidly gaining in intensity, with hundreds of investigators sifting through evidence – much of it in the form of surveillance and social media videos and photographs – to identify and arrest those responsible.     To make arrests, prosecutors in some cases have relied on simple misdemeanor charges. Prosecutors, however, have the ability to indict those individuals on more serious felony charges, Sherwin said, adding that a federal grand jury on Monday heard hours of evidence presented by prosecutors.   “These are only the beginning. This is not the end,” Sherwin said of the criminal charges.    Among those charged are a West Virginia state lawmaker who filmed himself storming the Capitol, an Arkansas man who was photographed in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office with his boot on a desk, and a Florida man seen in a viral photo carrying Pelosi’s lectern through the building.  FILE – Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump protest in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Sherwin said he has set up separate “strike forces” of senior prosecutors to investigate attacks on members of the media at the Capitol and to explore sedition and conspiracy charges against some participants in the assault.   “Their only marching orders from me are to build seditious and conspiracy charges related to the most heinous acts that occurred in the Capitol,” Sherwin said of his prosecutors. “These are significant charges that have felonies with prison terms of up to 20 years.”  The rioting erupted after thousands of Trump supporters, upset by false claims that his reelection had been stolen, marched from near the White House to the Capitol where lawmakers were meeting to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Hundreds broke into the areas connecting the Senate and House chambers of Congress, ransacking offices and scuffling with law enforcement officers, raising questions over law enforcement’s failure to secure the building.  FILE – Steven D’Antuono, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Washington field office, speaks during a news conference in Washington, Jan. 12, 2021.Steven D’Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington office, dismissed criticism the FBI had failed to act on warnings about planned violence in Washington. Speaking to reporters, D’Antuono confirmed that the FBI had prepared an intelligence document the day before the riots that said extremists were preparing to commit violence in the nation’s capital. He said, however, that the threat could not be traced to any specific individual.  “When my office, the Washington field office, received that information, we briefed that within 30 minutes to our law enforcement partners,” D’Antuono said. “That’s the action that we took on that.” 
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President-elect Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he has picked Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Barack Obama, to run the agency overseeing American foreign humanitarian and development aid.  
If confirmed by the Senate, Power will head the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has an annual budget of about $20 billion. Biden also announced that he is elevating the position to the National Security Council within the White House, a signal that he will prioritize outreach to other nations.  
Biden has said that USAID will coordinate America’s work to lead a global response to combat the coronavirus and help the most vulnerable nations.
He called Power “a world-renowned voice of conscience and moral clarity.”
Power served as U.N. ambassador from 2013 to 2017. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for her book “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” about the U.S. foreign policy response to genocide.
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A small but growing number of Republican lawmakers is signaling support for impeaching President Donald Trump after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday to try to upend his reelection defeat, leaving five people dead.Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a member of the Republican Party’s House leadership team, said Tuesday that she would vote to impeach Trump in his final days as president.“There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” Cheney said.Also on Tuesday, New York representative John Katko and Illinois representative Adam Kinzinger, both Republicans, said they would vote to impeach the president.Third House Republican to vote for #impeachmenthttps://t.co/HxQPJ9VVtV— Katherine Gypson (@kgyp) January 12, 2021While Republicans voted lockstep against impeaching Trump last year for pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democrat Joe Biden, who is now president-elect, House Republican leaders are indicating they do not intend to pressure their members to vote against impeachment this time around.A total of 218 Democrats have signed on to the impeachment resolution, ensuring a majority in the 435-member House with or without any Republican votes against the outgoing Republican president.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 13 MB540p | 18 MB720p | 40 MB1080p | 74 MBOriginal | 210 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioWATCH: US House Will Vote to Impeach Trump Wednesday
While an impeachment resolution would be almost certain to pass, conviction by the Senate and removal from office is far from certain.
It is unclear whether House leaders would immediately send the impeachment resolution to the Senate for a trial on whether to convict Trump and remove him from office, given that his term ends next week.U.S. Vice President Mike Pence hands the West Virginia certification to staff as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) listens during a joint session of Congress after working through the night, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 7, 2021.The House is set to vote Tuesday on a resolution calling for Vice President Mike Pence and members of Trump’s Cabinet to use their constitutional authority to remove Trump from office as unfit to serve.The measure, which is expected to pass, sets a 24-hour deadline for Pence to respond, but he has given no indication he supports the removal of Trump. That would set the stage for a House vote Wednesday on impeachment.“The President represents an imminent threat to our Constitution, our Country and the American people, and he must be removed from office immediately,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a written statement on Monday.Aside from Pence, no Cabinet member has given any public indication of supporting Trump’s ouster in the waning days of his presidency through use of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows for the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare a president “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at Gerald R. Ford International Airport, Nov. 2, 2020, in Grand Rapids, Mich., with Vice President Mike Pence.Trump and Pence met late Monday at the White House for the first time since last week. Pence had angered Trump by rebuffing his entreaties to reject the Electoral College votes from several states Biden narrowly won, giving him the presidency.A senior administration official said Trump and Pence “reiterated that those who broke the law and stormed the Capitol last week do not represent the America First movement backed by 75 million Americans [who voted for Trump] and pledged to continue the work on behalf of the country for the remainder of their term.”Even though Trump’s four-year term expires at noon Jan. 20, the four-page proposed House impeachment resolution said Trump 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.”The impeachment resolution cites Trump’s unfounded accusations that he was cheated out of a second term by voting and vote-counting irregularities, his pressure on election officials in the southern state of Georgia to “find” him more than 11,000 votes to overtake Biden’s margin of victory in the state, and his statements at a rally last Wednesday urging thousands of supporters to march to the Capitol to pressure lawmakers to overturn the election outcome.FILE – Then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks ahead of a meeting at European Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 6, 2015.Biden said it is his “hope and expectation” that the Senate could simultaneously hold an impeachment trial and confirm his Cabinet appointments after he takes office, while also approving more aid for the flagging U.S. economy weakened by the soaring coronavirus pandemic.He said Monday of the rioters, “It is critically important that there’ll be a real serious focus on holding those folks who engaged in sedition and threatening the lives, defacing public property, caused great damage — that they be held accountable.”Biden also told reporters, “I’m not afraid of taking the oath outside,” referring to next week’s swearing-in ceremony, which traditionally takes place at the U.S. Capitol’s west steps, one of the areas where people stormed the building.Even if Trump has already left office, a Senate impeachment conviction after his term ends would bar him from holding federal office again.Problem Solvers Caucus co-chair Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., speaks to the media about the expected passage of the emergency COVID-19 relief bill, Dec. 21, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Republican Congressman Tom Reed said in a New York Times opinion piece that he would join an unspecified number of House colleagues in introducing a censure resolution against Trump on Tuesday as an alternative to a “hasty impeachment.”“If our leaders make the wrong decision in how to hold him accountable, it could damage the integrity of our system of justice, further fan the flames of division, and disillusion millions of Americans ─ all while failing to accomplish anything,” Reed wrote.If he is impeached again, Trump would hold a singular distinction among 45 U.S. presidents in the 245-year history of the United States, by becoming the only chief executive to be impeached twice.Katherine Gypson contributed to this report. 
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The Democratic-majority U.S. House of Representatives will vote to impeach President Donald Trump as early as Wednesday, charging him with inciting an insurrection in an attempt to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports. 
Produced by: Katherine Gypson 
 
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In a rebuke from Congress, U.S. Representatives Gregory Meeks of New York and Michael McCaul of Texas chastised the heads of USAGM and Voice of America on Tuesday for reassigning a VOA White House correspondent.     Patsy Widakuswara was told late Monday she is being reassigned, hours after the veteran reporter attempted to question Secretary of State Mike Pompeo following a speech he delivered at VOA headquarters.    “This is the United States of America – we do not punish our journalists for seeking answers to their questions. A free and fair press is at the core of our Constitution and our democracy,” Meeks, the new chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and lead Republican McCaul said in a joint statement. The lawmakers called for VOA to explain its actions and to reinstate Widakuswara.   FILE – Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has a conversation with VOA Director Robert Reilly at the Voice of America headquarters in Washington, Jan. 11, 2021.Widakuswara was informed at around 10:30 p.m. Monday that she was being moved to general reporting instead of the high-profile White House job. No reason was provided.  A VOA spokesperson replied to questions about Widakuswara’s reassignment and said the news organization does not comment on personnel matters. USAGM did not respond.  VOA directors have the authority to reassign staff as they see fit. But journalism groups and a whistleblower agency criticized the move as an attack on press freedom.     Although VOA is taxpayer funded, its journalists operate under a “firewall” framework designed to protect their independence from politics. That tradition has been challenged, however, by CEO Michael Pack, the Trump appointee who took over as chief of VOA’s parent agency, USAGM, in June.    The actions taken against Widakuswara are an “assault on the First Amendment,” Zeke Miller, president of the White House Correspondents Club, said in a statement.     “VOA’s reassignment of Patsy Widakuswara for doing her job, asking questions, is an affront to the very ideals Secretary of State Pompeo discussed in his speech,” Miller said.    He added that removing Widakuswara from her beat “harms the interests of all Americans who depend on the free press to learn about the actions of their government and gives comfort to efforts to restrict press freedom around the world.”    Widakuswara had been due to travel with President Donald Trump on Tuesday to cover his visit to Texas for VOA’s audience. The visit is Trump’s first public appearance since his supporters violently breached the U.S. Capitol last week, resulting in five deaths including that of a Capitol police officer.  Even before Pompeo spoke, the Government Accountability Project, which protects federal whistleblowers, had written to USAGM to warn that the arrangements for covering the address appeared to violate the VOA Charter – which enshrines the agency’s editorial independence – and journalism ethics.  FILE – Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-NY., speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, Feb. 28, 2020.”Patsy was doing her job. Her ‘reassignment’ is retaliatory political meddling. That’s an illegal breach of the firewall,” David Seide, senior counsel for GAP, told VOA. The organization is representing over 20 current and former journalists who contacted it over various concerns in recent months. FILE – Congressman Michael McCaul questions witnesses during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 16, 2020.In their joint statement, McCaul and Meeks said they were frustrated to learn that Widakuswara was reassigned after questioning Pompeo. “Absent a legitimate reason for this move, which has not been provided, we believe she should be reinstated,” they said. “This is the United States of America – we do not punish our journalists for seeking answers to their questions. A free and fair press is at the core of our Constitution and our democracy.”   On Monday, Pompeo spoke about “American exceptionalism” in a speech at VOA and what he viewed as the proper role of VOA in promoting American values around the globe. It was followed by a brief Q&A session with Reilly, who did not pose questions submitted by the agency’s main newsroom about last week’s assault on the Capitol or Pompeo’s move that morning to declare the Houthis in Yemen as a terrorist organization.  As the secretary of state left the network’s headquarters, Widakuswara followed and tried to question Pompeo.    Video shows Widakuswara calling out questions to Pompeo as he left the VOA building, including whether he regretted saying that there would be a smooth transition to a “second Trump administration” despite Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden.     In footage, the journalist is heard pivoting to Reilly and asking why he didn’t ask questions that journalists want to know the answers to.     In response, the director is heard asking Widakuswara who she is. After she introduces herself, he tells the reporter, “You obviously don’t know how to behave” and adds that she is not authorized to ask questions.     Widakuswara responds by saying she is a journalist and that her job is to ask questions.    Until being reassigned, Widakuswara covered the White House for VOA’s website, TV and radio, and also hosted a podcast for the Indonesian language service, where she started as a reporter.In his speech at VOA headquarters, Pompeo implored the network’s journalists to carry out VOA’s mission and uphold press freedom.     FILE – Michael Pack, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, is seen at his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Sept. 19, 2019. Pack’s nomination was confirmed June 4, 2020.The outgoing secretary of state also criticized a group of the agency’s journalists after the GAP wrote on their behalf to Pack and Reilly citing concerns that airing a live broadcast of a government official risked violating VOA’s laws and rules.     The decision by VOA management to broadcast Pompeo’s speech live was criticized as potentially damaging to the network’s credibility.     Allowing a senior U.S. official’s speech to be broadcast live is an attempt to reduce VOA to state broadcaster, Nick Cull, a professor of public diplomacy at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, told VOA.     “When a government official goes down to a state-subsidized broadcaster and insists that particular propaganda be broadcast, that is so self-defeating and undermines any claims that broadcaster might make to being objective,” Cull said. “It reduces Voice of America to the level of not just state-funded broadcaster, but a state broadcaster.”   Criticism over Widakuswara’s removal from the White House beat is the latest move by the agency to draw fire from lawmakers and whistleblower protection groups over Pack’s management of the agency and alleged attempts to interfere in VOA’s editorial independence.     A U.S. District Court in November barred Pack and his aides from directly interfering in VOA until a lawsuit alleging violations of the firewall is settled; the Office of the Inspector General sent letters to Pack reminding the chief executive of protections whistleblowers have from retaliation; and the Office of Special Counsel ordered the CEO to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by its own officials. 
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Democratic lawmakers’ push to impeach him in the last days of his presidency is “absolutely ridiculous.”
 
Speaking to reporters for the first time since thousands of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday to try to upend his defeat for reelection, Trump rejected any contention that he was responsible for the mayhem that left five people dead.
 
Trump had urged thousands of his supporters at a rally near the White House to “fight” against lawmakers certifying that he had lost his reelection contest to Democrat Joe Biden. But the president said Tuesday, “It’s been analyzed, and people thought that what I said was totally appropriate.”
 
Hours after police restored order at the Capitol, lawmakers certified the Electoral College vote showing Biden defeated Trump in the November election. Biden now will be inaugurated in eight days as the country’s 46th president, ending Trump’s four-year term.
 World Leaders Condemn Pro-Trump Riot at US Capitol European officials express disbelief at the unprecedented scenes on Capitol Hill, side with President-elect Joe Biden Trump offered his comments as he headed to the southwest border with Mexico to inspect the wall that he had built to thwart illegal immigration, which Trump considers one of his top achievements as president.
 
He contended that the impeachment effort against him is a “continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics,” his description of earlier investigations targeting him — that Russia helped him win the 2016 election, and his 2019 impeachment after he solicited Ukraine’s help in digging up dirt against Biden ahead of the November election. The Senate acquitted him last February in the impeachment case.
 US House Moves to Remove Trump from OfficeDemocrats accuse US leader of ‘incitement of insurrection’ in last week’s storming of the Capitol by a mob of Trump supportersTrump said he wants no more violence as Biden takes office but said the impeachment effort brought by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives is “causing tremendous anger.”
 
The House is set to vote Tuesday on a resolution calling for Vice President Mike Pence and members of Trump’s Cabinet to use their constitutional authority to remove Trump from office as unfit to serve.
 
The measure, which is expected to pass, sets a 24-hour deadline for Pence to respond, but he has given no indication he supports the removal of Trump. That would set the stage for a House vote Wednesday on impeachment.  
 
“The President represents an imminent threat to our Constitution, our Country and the American people, and he must be removed from office immediately,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a written statement on Monday.  
 
Aside from Pence, no Cabinet member has given any public indication of supporting Trump’s ouster in the waning days of his presidency through use of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows for the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare a president “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
 
Trump and Pence met late Monday at the White House for the first time since last week. Pence had angered Trump by rebuffing his entreaties to reject the Electoral College votes from several states Biden narrowly won, giving him the presidency.
 
A senior administration official said Trump and Pence “reiterated that those who broke the law and stormed the Capitol last week do not represent the America First movement backed by 75 million Americans (who voted for Trump) and pledged to continue the work on behalf of the country for the remainder of their term.”Members of the National Guard stand inside fencing that surrounds the Capitol complex, Jan. 10, 2021, in Washington, amid intense security measures ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration Jan. 20, 2021.Even though Trump’s four-year term expires at noon January 20, the four-page proposed House impeachment resolution said Trump 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.”  
 
The impeachment resolution cites Trump’s unfounded accusations that he was cheated out of a second term by voting and vote-counting irregularities, his pressure on election officials in the southern state of Georgia to “find” him more than 11,000 votes to overtake Biden’s margin of victory in the state, and his statements at a rally last Wednesday urging thousands of supporters to march to the Capitol to pressure lawmakers to overturn the election outcome.  
 
A total of 218 Democrats have signed on to the resolution, ensuring a majority in the 435-member House without any Republican votes against the outgoing Republican president.  
 
But it is unclear whether House leaders would immediately send the resolution to the Senate for a trial on whether to convict Trump and remove him from office, given that his term ends next week.  
 
Biden said it is his “hope and expectation” that the Senate could simultaneously hold an impeachment trial and confirm his Cabinet appointments after he takes office, while also approving more aid for the flagging U.S. economy weakened by the soaring coronavirus pandemic.  
 
He said Monday of the rioters, “It is critically important that there’ll be a real serious focus on holding those folks who engaged in sedition and threatening the lives, defacing public property, caused great damage — that they be held accountable.”  
 
Biden also told reporters, “I’m not afraid of taking the oath outside,” referring to next week’s swearing-in ceremony, which traditionally takes place at the U.S. Capitol’s west steps, one of the areas where people stormed the building.   
 FBI Examines Threats to Biden Inauguration  Officials say they are worried about groups bent on “violence and destruction of property,” as the National Guard authorizes up to 15,000 troops to help with security Even if Trump has already left office, a Senate impeachment conviction after his term ends would bar him from holding federal office again.  
 
Republican Congressman Tom Reed said in a New York Times opinion piece that he would join an unspecified number of House colleagues in introducing a censure resolution against Trump on Tuesday as an alternative to a “hasty impeachment.”
 
“If our leaders make the wrong decision in how to hold him accountable, it could damage the integrity of our system of justice, further fan the flames of division, and disillusion millions of Americans ─ all while failing to accomplish anything,” Reed wrote.
 
If he is impeached again, Trump would hold a singular distinction among 45 U.S. presidents in the 245-year history of the United States, by becoming the only chief executive to be impeached twice.   
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