Democrats in the US House of Representatives have introduced an article of impeachment against Donald Trump.

They charge the president with inciting insurrection following the deadly riot at the US Capitol last week.

Trump is set to become the first US president to face impeachment proceedings twice.

The vote could take place as soon as Wednesday, less than a week after protesters stormed it.

Theo Capital is much changed on the after effects air not just evident outside inside the Democrats air intent on removing Donald Trump, who they say is responsible for the violence resolution calling on Vice President Michel are pence to convince First, the vice president was urged to use his constitutional authority to activate Section four of the 25th Amendment to declare President Donald J.

Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise Powers is acting president.

Republicans quickly blocked the move.

I object.

Democrats then introduced an article of impeachment against Trump, which could be voted on as early as Wednesday.

It charges him with incitement of insurrection, referring directly to last week's capital rampage.

Even if Democrats have enough votes in the house, it could be difficult to win over the Senate.

The main issue is not on the House side.

It's on the Senate side.

The Senate is not around.

They're not scheduled to come back until the 19th.

And so there's really nothing forcing them to do anything, um, quicker than that and a tri ALS again, if if they wanted, they could rush it through.

But they would not want to do that.

Neither side.

Whether it be sooner or later, many Washington residents feel action needs to be taken.

It seems pretty clear that the president was breaking the law and encouraged inciting a riot, encouraging sedition.

Um, and you know, even though it's 10 days, I think that, you know, having consequences for reaction should mean something, no matter who it is.

I think the inflammatory words of Senator Cruz and Senator Holly clearly had an exacting and strong effect on the events of Wednesday.

Um, yeah, I think you should hold them accountable.

I don't know what that looks like.

History will look back on this, and if we do not act on this moment, we failed.

And so I think that's really critical that we do our job as Americans as a government to put down the possibility of this ever happened again.

But with the president having just over a week left in office, lawmakers will be pressed to move fast for more.

I'm now joined by DW reporter Joel Delroy Joel.

Welcome.

Uh, Trump has one week left in office.

Why still impeach him now?

Well, that would send a message that undermining electoral results and encouraging people to try and overturn the results is not acceptable behavior in a democracy.

But also, it would bar Trump from ever standing for office again should he decide to do so after he steps down after he leaves office.

Now, of course, impeachment faces huge hurdles is going to pass the House, no doubt.

But it also has to pass the Senate, and it would have to do so with a two thirds majority, which the Democrats do not have.

That means many Republicans would have to vote with them, and so far the number of Republicans who have publicly spoken out against Trump is still in the single digits is very far of what would be needed.

The one Republican senator who actually did vote to Impeach Trump last time.

Mitt Romney has also said that he suggested he doesn't think it's the right way to go.

Uh, you've got to remember that Republicans have to think about their long term strategy here to more than 48% of voters voted for Trump, and they're not going away anytime soon.

And Republicans have to think about midterm elections and going forward.

What's gonna happen to those trump supporters and, of course, impeachments of very lengthy process.

It could now last until after Trump has even left office.

That's what we're hearing from from Democrats as a more of a symbolic acts to bar him from office.

But it also means for those of us around the world who thought we had heard the end of Trump, we're going to be hearing a lot more from and about him.

So, ironically, by trying to silence Trump, Democrats may actually be giving him more oxygen in the future.

Have there been any reactions from the White House from the president himself to that move?

Well, of course, we haven't heard much from him because he has been banned from social media from Twitter and Facebook, but he has been making some official acts.

For example, he did authorize a state of emergency declaration for Washington on DPI.

Privately, it's being reported that he's making a lot of phone calls to his loyalists, still complaining about the electoral results on according toa one report from the new site, Axios.

He's also now indulging in the latest conspiracy theory, which says that or claims that it was actually left wing insurgents from the nebulous group Antifa who were involved in storming the Capitol, not his supporters.

Now, of course, this is, uh, clearly false.

You can see that from the images, but it means that Trump, any supporters are still living in some kind of parallel reality ahead of Joe Biden.

Swearing in the security situation is delicate not only in Washington, D.

C.

What air law enforcement agencies bracing for ahead of the inauguration.

Well, the FBI says it is prepared because they believe that armed supporters may hold up protests in up to 50 states around the nation in the coming days.

There's there's apparently threats on on Inauguration Day itself.

The Pentagon has authorized 15,000 troops to be in the capital.

They put up fences around the building and maybe a little too late, you might say.

But Washington's mayor is actually urging people to stay away for the inauguration.

We can't forget.

There's also the coronavirus pandemic to think about eso instead of crowds.

We're going to see just a very small number of people out there was supporting the incoming president, Joe Biden.

It will be an inauguration like no other.

Right DWS Joel Delroy, Thank you very much.

I'm joined tonight by Professor Mary Ziegler.

She's a legal historian and a professor of law at Florida State University professor.

It's good to have you back on the day this week.

President Trump.

He could be impeached again.

Or he could be on his way out, thanks to his vice president and the 25th Amendment.

What do you say?

It's gonna be impeachment, isn't it?

Yeah, I think impeachment is much more likely.

Vice President Pence's made pretty clear that he doesn't want to invoke the 25th Amendment, and I think there's there's been a kind of balancing act here between Republicans who I think understand the threat to democracy that's an issue here and understand.

In some ways the Trump spent a threat to their personal safety.

That's especially true of Pence, but who also want to retain some kind of loyalty, or a least toleration on the part of Trump's supporters.

And the 25th Amendment option would put responsibility for Trump's exit squarely on pence his shoulders.

And he might not want that.

Well, I mean, why not the faster route here?

Why not invoke the 25th Amendment and stripped Trump of his powers?

Vice president Pence.

As you said, You know he has reason enough to make this happen, doesn't he?

He certainly does.

I think that Vice President Pence, like many of his Republican colleagues, is positioning himself for a presidential run in 2024 assuming perhaps naively, that leaving Donald Trump in place will mean that there there will necessarily be a democracy and an election in 2024.

But making all of those assumptions, I think Pence believes it would be politically costly for Donald Trump's, um, exit to be on his hands, if you will, to be his responsibility.

And he would like as much as possible to shift the blame from the standpoint of Trump's face to people in Congress and away from the White House and from his own office.

You know, there's only about 89 days left in the Trump presidency.

Why is it so important for the House of Representatives to impeach Trump?

Well, I think part of it.

The most immediate legal effect is that if Trump is impeached and convicted in the Senate, he would no longer be able to run for any public office.

So that would automatically mean an end to his 2024 presidential aspirations, which may or may not be really.

But it would certainly rule that out.

I think there's also evidence that in other countries where there's been attempted insurrections like this, it's good for the law and for Congress and for other branches of government to send a pretty firm message that this kind of thing won't stand so that other people are not encouraged to try again, right to have another insurrection that might be more successful this time.

We're already seeing signs in the United States that there'll be more armed protests on Inauguration Day on the day that the House is going to impeach.

Even on the weekend before the inauguration, so sending a message that this will no longer be tolerated certainly seems important.

Yeah, that's a very good point.

You make the FBI.

You're saying that all 50 U.

S.

State capitals have been put on high alert for, um, Inauguration Day for possible violence.

Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He is a Republican.

He posted a video condemning Trump and those lawmakers who have enabled him what you take a listen to part of what he said.

I believe, as shaken as we are, but the events of recent days, we will come out stronger because we now understand what can be lost.

We need reforms, of course, so that this never ever happens again.

We need to hold accountable the people that brought us to this unforgivable point.

And we need to look past ourselves, our parties and disagreements and put our democracy first.

But the democracy first, but also consequences.

How likely do you think it is that we're going to see senators expelled from Congress?

I'm thinking of Ted Cruz from Texas, and I'm thinking of Josh Holly from Missouri.

That's harder to say.

We certainly won't see that until the Democrats have this sort of slim 50% majority, and we might not see it than either, because if the Senate will be equally divided at that time with Kamala Harris breaking the tie.

And I don't know if president by President elect Biden will want to expend his political capital getting rid of them, there are other forms of accountability that we're already seeing pop up.

Ironically, in the American corporate world, Josh Holly has already lost a book deal.

A lot of corporate donors have announced that they're no longer going to donate to Hiss Senate campaigns.

Um, there are a variety of actors trying to hold holly accountable, but Holly and Cruz may well stay in the Senate, even if there are a lot of other actors in American public life trying to hold them to account.

Yeah, that is amazing that they probably, as you say, they will keep their political careers trump being impeached again.

Is that enough to ensure that this attempt to override the will of the people will never happen again?

I mean, do you think that the guard rails of the US Constitution are they going toe hold moving forward?

Well, I think what really preserved the democracy in the United States.

And this is a lesson.

I think, for every country isn't really institutions.

You could make a pretty good argument that Congress buckled over and over again.

I mean, people in the Republican Party put party ahead of the democracy numerous times, most notably when Trump lost the election and people deny that reality.

What I think saved the democracy was that a lot of relevant actors had internalized the rule of law.

And when that phone call came from President Trump to subvert the election, they refused even Republicans.

So I think that renewing kind of civic education about those norms and reinforcing that is really important in the United States and other democracies because there's nothing I think in any institution, Um, that would prevent the end of a democracy.

And if it can happen in the United States, which has sort of been a model for democracies all over the world, it really can happen anywhere.

And I think that's a lesson.

I mean, of course, there was a sort of an effort in Germany, right to write to rush the Reichstag, so I mean there, this isn't a problem.

just in the United States.

I think that's another important lesson that improves all of us not to wait until the crisis point to think about the places that are democracies need.

Yeah, that's a very good point.

You make all around the world people thinking, If it can happen in the US, it can happen anywhere.

Professor Mary Ziegler, legal historian and professor of law at Florida State University professor.

As always, we appreciate your time and your insights tonight.

Thank you.