Trump becomes first US president to be impeached twice

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US House of Representatives voted Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump on a single article of incitement of insurrection, making him the first president in US history to be impeached twice.

The 232-197 vote now sends the matter to the Senate for a trial that is expected to begin on Jan. 19 at the earliest. In all, 10 Republicans broke with their president in supporting his removal from office.

That is a far cry from Trump's first impeachment when House Republicans uniformly rejected his ouster.

This time, the House weighed a sole article of impeachment that accuses Trump of attempting to foment insurrection for his role in last week's deadly siege of the Capitol.

Addressing a rally of his supporters assembled less than 2 miles from the federal legislature on Jan. 6, Trump repeated his claims that the Nov. 3 presidential election was stolen, telling the crowd they must "fight like hell" as lawmakers prepared to certify Electoral College votes that would eventually cement President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

"Our country has had enough, and we will not take it anymore," he told the gathering, many of whom later flooded the Capitol as lawmakers were certifying Electoral College results. "We will stop the steal."

Trump and his political allies have continued to tout the allegations despite successive legal defeats, including before the Supreme Court, in which they were dismissed. Federal investigations urged by Trump also found no evidence to support them.

In all, five people died when his supporters besieged the US Capitol building, overrunning police as they barged into Congress through broken doors and windows. Among the dead was Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.

Security in the nation's capital has reached historic levels ahead of Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration with about 20,000 National Guard members expected to be in Washington, D.C. for the event.