Assistant House Speaker: Impeachment vote could happen next week

Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) on Friday said a vote to impeach President Trump for the second time could happen as early as next week.

“Donald Trump needs to be removed from office. And we are going to proceed with every tool that we have to make sure that that happens to protect our democracy,” Clark said during an interview on CNN.

“If the reports are correct, and [Vice President] Mike Pence is not going to uphold his oath of office and remove the president and help protect our democracy, then we will move forward with impeachment to do just that,” she added.

When asked when the articles would be brought to the House floor, Clark responded, “Well, that will be as early as mid-next week.”

“We have a president that incited a seditious mob to storm the Capitol. We now have five deaths from that and the harm to our democracy is really unfathomable,” she added.

“Donald Trump needs to be removed from office. And we are going to proceed with every tool that we have to make sure that that happens to protect our democracy,” Rep. Katherine Clark says as House Democrats eye quick impeachment vote if Pence won’t remove Trump from office pic.twitter.com/d1TxmTXLAt

— New Day (@NewDay) January 8, 2021

Clark’s comments come as calls grow for Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office after a mob of his supporters raided the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

However, The New York Times has reported that Pence would not support invoking the 25th Amendment, which would elevate him to president.

Clark on Friday said she recognized the House has limited time to move forward with impeachment, given that Trump’s term ends on Jan. 20. However, she said the lower chamber can use procedural tools to fast-track articles of impeachment to the floor for a vote.

Dozens of Democrats and a handful of GOP officials have expressed support for invoking the 25th Amendment out of fear that Trump could incite more violence in the remaining days of his presidency.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that the House would impeach Trump again if Pence did not invoke the 25th Amendment.

Wednesday’s deadly riot has already led to the resignation of several administration officials, including Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.