Connect with us

Politics

Pelosi Is Officially Launching Second Trump Impeachment, Will Also Activate 25th Amendment

Pelosi is moving cautiously despite internal pressure from her caucus to punish Trump …

Published

on

U.S. Embassy Ghana/Flickr

Update (1900ET): In a letter sent late on Sunday, Nancy Pelosi confirmed that the coming week will be focused entirely on removing Trump out of office, when she informed colleagues that the House will pass a resolution calling on Pence to invoke the 25th amendment. This will be followed by impeachment.

Her full letter below:

Dear Democratic Colleague,

On this Sunday, as we pray that God will continue to Bless America, I write to inform you of our next actions, which will be made with the great solemnity that this moment requires.

I want to call to your immediate attention the action to be taken tomorrow morning, when Majority Leader Hoyer will request Unanimous Consent to bring up the Raskin resolution. This resolution calls on the Vice President to convene and mobilize the Cabinet to activate the 25th Amendment to declare the President incapable of executing the duties of his office, after which the Vice President would immediately exercise powers as acting President. The text of the resolution can be found here.

If we do not receive Unanimous Consent, this legislation is planned to be brought up on the Floor the following day. We are calling on the Vice President to respond within 24 hours.

Next, we will proceed with bringing impeachment legislation to the Floor.

In protecting our Constitution and our Democracy, we will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat to both. 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.

I look forward to our Caucus call tomorrow. I am grateful to all Members for the suggestions, observations and input that you have been sending. Your views on the 25th Amendment, 14th Amendment Section 3 and impeachment are valued as we continue. I am answering your communications in chronological order and will do so into the night.

Thank you for your patriotism.

Prayerfully,

In other words, the second impeachment of Trump will begin on Tuesday if Pence refuses to invoke the 25th amendment, for which Pelosi has given the VP 24 hours.

There are just a few caveats: as the Constitution Center explains, to forcibly wrest power from Trump, Vice President Mike Pence would have to be on board, according to the text of the amendment. Pence would also need either a majority of Trump’s Cabinet officials to agree the President is unfit for office and temporarily seize power from him. Neither is very likely.

Next, Trump could dispute their move with a letter to Congress. Pence and the Cabinet would then have four days to dispute him, Congress would then vote — it requires a two-thirds supermajority, usually 67 senators and 290 House members to permanently remove him. This too is unlikely.

Congress could also appoint its own body to review the President’s fitness instead of the Cabinet. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, during the last Congress, introduced a bill to create a congressional body for this purpose, but it was not signed into law.

* * * * *

Democratic efforts to impeach President Trump for a second time are well underway, with a senior Democratic lawmaker telling Bloomberg that a House vote on articles of impeachment could come as soon as Tuesday, which would then be held for several months before they send them to the Senate in order to avoid triggering an immediate trial.

According to House Majority Whip James Clyburn, Democrats are “working hard” on an article of impeachment which demonstrates that Trump is “unqualified to be president.”

I think that will come probably Tuesday and maybe Wednesday,” Clyburn told “Fox News Sunday.”

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave Trump an ultimatum last week; resign immediately, or face impeachment 2.0 for encouraging supporters to march on Capitol Hill last Wednesday – when a mostly peaceful protest against the counting of Electoral College votes turned into what the left is calling an ‘insurrection’ after law enforcement oddly opened the doors to the building, allowing protesters to ‘storm’ the Capitol.

According to Bloomberg, Pelosi is moving cautiously despite internal pressure from her caucus to punish Trump – while President-elect Joe Biden has made clear that he isn’t interested in a Trump impeachment sideshow while his administration is trying to focus on their agenda. Pelosi has told lawmakers to be “prepared to return to Washington” this week for a potential impeachment vote or some other type of formal response to Trump’s alleged role in encouraging the breach on Capitol hill that left five people dead (despite the fact that he told supporters to peacefully assemble and to peacefully leave following the incident).

According to Clyburn, however, any successful impeachment in the House could be held for 100 days or more to avoid upstaging Biden.

Let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we’ll send the articles some time after that,” he said.

At least 195 House Democrats have signed on to one of the impeachment articles, and some Republicans have said they believe Trump conduct is impeachable, although they question how the process would play out with less than two weeks left in his term.

In a letter to fellow Democrats Saturday, Pelosi stopped short of saying she intended to move forward with impeachment or another process aimed at removing Trump from office before his term expires on Jan. 20, yet she insisted that he be held responsible in some fashion. –Bloomberg

It is absolutely essential that those who perpetrated the assault on our democracy be held accountable,” said Pelosi in a Saturday letter. “There must be a recognition that this desecration was instigated by the president.”

Meanwhile, a small group of House Republicans led by Colorado Rep. Ken Buck are trying to encourage Biden to persuade Pelosi to back off a Trump impeachment – warning in a Saturday letter that doing so would inflame Trump supporters and derail Biden’s plans to ‘unify the country’ (as social media giants engage in politically-driven cancel spree against Trump and his supporters).

As far as Trump leaving office now? Biden suggests letting the presidential transition occur so his administration can “get our agenda moving as quickly as we can.”

“It’s important we get on with the business getting him out of office. The quickest way that that will happen is us being sworn in on the 20th,” Biden said during a Wilmington, Delaware press conference last week. “I am focused now on us taking control as president and vice president on the 20th, and to get our agenda moving as quickly as we can.

Continue Reading
Comments

Politics

Biden Wants To Give Separated Illegal Immigrants $450,000 Per Person

The average amount sought through the courts is roughly $3.4 million per family, according to the report.

Published

on

Image Credit: Phil Murphy/Flickr

The Biden administration is mulling a plan to offer immigrant families separated during the Trump administration $450,000 per person in compensation, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.

The payments – part of an inter-agency solution to several lawsuits filed on behalf of separated parents and children claiming lasting psychological trauma could amount to nearly $1 million per family, though ‘the final numbers could shift,’ according to the report.

According to sources, most of the families crossing into the US from Mexico included one parent and one child. Depending on circumstances, many families could get smaller payouts.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents families in one of the lawsuits, has identified about 5,500 children separated at the border over the course of the Trump administration, citing figures provided to it by the government. The number of families eligible under the potential settlement is expected to be smaller, the people said, as government officials aren’t sure how many will come forward. Around 940 claims have so far been filed by the families, the people said. -WSJ

In total, the potential payout could reach $1 billion or more.

Throughout the Trump administration, thousands of children were separated from their parents (and coyotes paid to bring them into the country) after they had crossed illegally into the country from Mexico. The lawsuits allege some of the children suffered various ailments – including malnutrition, heat exhaustion, and were kept in freezing cold rooms with little medical attention. Some claim lasting mental health problems due to the trauma of being without their parents for several months.

The average amount sought through the courts is roughly $3.4 million per family, according to the report.

“President Biden has agreed that the family separation policy is a historic moral stain on our nation that must be fully remedied,” said ACLU deputy director, Lee Gelernt. “That remedy must include not only meaningful monetary compensation, but a pathway to remain in the country.”

Senate Republicans slammed the plan on Thursday afternoon following the WSJ‘s report.

“The Biden administration’s promises of citizenship and entitlement programs have already caused the worst border crisis in history—a huge cash reward will make it even worse,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).

The discussions about the payouts have taken place over the past few months among a group of dozens of private lawyers representing the families and government lawyers. Some government lawyers have viewed the payouts as excessive for people who had violated the law by crossing the border, the people said. One government lawyer threatened to remove his name from the case out of disagreement with the potential settlement offer, the people said. -WSJ

“It is a complicated, complex piece of litigation” – trying to resolve hundreds of separate lawsuits at the same time, and “sometimes even more complex to try the cases” said Margo Schlanger, who ran the civil-rights office during the Obama administration at the Department of Homeland Security and now teaches at the University of Michigan law school.

What will the reparations crowd think of this?

Continue Reading

Politics

White House To America: ‘We’re Coming Door To Door…With Shots!’

Will CDC soon recommend a nation-wide re-count of Covid deaths?

Published

on

United States Mission Geneva/Flickr

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said at the daily press conference yesterday that President Biden’s strategy to get everyone a Covid shot – whether they want it or not – is to start going “door-to-door” to those not yet jabbed. So…they have a list? Also today: bomb-maker Raytheon goes “woke.” Capitol Hill Cops set up shop in California. Will CDC soon recommend a nation-wide re-count of Covid deaths?

Continue Reading

Politics

Half A Million Illegals Crossed Since Harris Named Border ‘Czar’

By the time June’s figures are reported in the coming days, the combined number is expected to be over half a million, more than the entire population of Miami, Florida or Cleveland, Ohio.

Published

on

Maryland National Guard/Flickr

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures, around 500,000 illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border since Kamala Harris was named border ‘czar’.

The Washington Free Beacon reported the findings, noting that only three months has passed since Harris took on the responsibility, and that the half a million figure is just those that have been apprehended.

The CBP says around 180,000 immigrants are being caught per month. In April agents arrested 178,854 illegal immigrants, the highest monthly figure for 21 years. That figure was then surpassed in May as agents apprehended 180,034 illegals.

By the time June’s figures are reported in the coming days, the combined number is expected to be over half a million, more than the entire population of Miami, Florida or Cleveland, Ohio.

Harris only bothered to visit the border when President Trump announced he was making a trip. Even then Harris visited El Paso, some 1000 miles away from where the crisis is taking place.

Previous to this, Harris lied and claimed she had been to the border, telling NBC’s Lester Holt “This whole thing about the border. We’ve been to the border. We’ve been to the border.”

When Holt pushed back and said she had not, Harris snapped “I—and I haven’t been to Europe. And I mean, I don’t—I don’t understand the point that you’re making,” then again laughed maniacally:

On Tuesday, Republican Senator Ron Johnson argued that Harris’ trip to El Paso was designed to distract the media and keep them away from the real crisis hit areas of the border.

“They took her to a point in the border where she wouldn’t see the crisis and so the press wouldn’t report on the crisis,” Johnson said.

The Senator added, “You just simply can’t understand what this administration is doing. We literally are apprehending now about 6,000 people per day. That’s I mean, that’s a large caravan every day being processed, some of them being returned, others are being dispersed. But this crisis is not going away. It’s just under everybody’s radar because the press isn’t covering it.”

Continue Reading