2nd Trump Impeachment: How North Carolina's House Delegation Vote

NORTH CAROLINA — U.S. representatives from North Carolina were split on impeaching President Donald Trump on a charge that he incited the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week. The House voted 232 -197 in favor, making Trump the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.

The bipartisan vote was supported by 222 Democrats and 10 Republicans.

The historic House vote took place a week after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a siege that resulted in five deaths — including the beating death of a Capitol Police officer, multiple arrests and a sprawling FBI investigation. The impeachment comes a week before President-elect Joe Biden is to be inaugurated in a city on high alert amid ongoing threats of violence.

"Today, we gather to deliver accountability; and it starts with the President, whose actions and words led directly to the insurrection on January 6th," Rep. Alma Adams, a Democrat representing North Carolina's 12th District, said in a statement Wednesday. "Make no mistake, the choice is clear: we either stand as guardians of justice and democracy, or as appeasers of fascism, autocracy, and white supremacy."

"This president has repeatedly lied to the American people about his election loss. He incited his followers to attack our democracy, resulting in five deaths," North Carolina Rep. Kathy Manning, a Democrat, said on the House floor Wednesday afternoon. "His dangerous efforts to derail the peaceful transition of power we a violation of his oath of office. This president is unfit to lead our nation and unable to discharge his duties of office. I call upon my Republican colleagues to speak the truth to their supporters and join me in holding President Trump accountable by voting to impeach."

"Rushed impeachment is not serious and Speaker Pelosi knows it," Republican Rep. Richard Hudson said Wednesday, via Twitter. "Rather than lashing out at our political opponents, every one of us needs to ask what we can do to tone down the temperature of rhetoric, rancor, and violence."

Rep. Ted Budd, a Republican representing North Carolina's 13th District, denounced the mob violence, but said impeachment would inflame political tensions and divide the country. "At a moment that calls for calm and peace, Democrats are again ratcheting up the political volume through an impeachment with just one week left in the president's term," Budd said. "We need to move on and focus on the needs of the American people. I'm voting no."

Here’s how North Carolina's delegation voted on the impeachment:

• Rep. G.K. Butterfield, Democrat — Yes
• Rep. Deborah Ross, Democrat — Yes
• Rep. Greg Murphy, Republican — Did not vote
• Rep. David Price, Democrat — Yes
• Rep. Virginia Foxx, Republican — No
• Rep. Kathy Manning, Democrat — Yes
• Rep. David Rouzer, Republican — No
• Rep. Richard Hudson, Republican — No
• Rep. Dan Bishop, Republican — No
• Rep. Patrick McHenry, Republican — No
• Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Republican — No
• Rep. Alma Adams, Democrat — Yes
• Rep. Ted Budd, Republican — No

What's Next: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will not allow the Senate to vote to convict Trump — which would have been an extraordinary turn by a Republican leader who has defended and protected Trump during the four years of his tumultuous presidency.

• If an impeachment trial is allowed in the Senate, it will be after Biden is inaugurated, McConnell said Wednesday. McConnell has reportedly said he believes Trump committed impeachable offenses, and that moving forward with a vote would make it easier for Republicans to purge Trumpism from their party but he won’t reconvene the Senate ahead of Biden’s inauguration. His staff said McConnell will defer to New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, who will become the new majority leader, to manage the process.
• As of Wednesday afternoon, McConnell remained coy about how he intended to vote. “While the press has been full of speculation, 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.”

• Biden has suggested the Senate could “bifurcate” — that is spend half of the day confirming his Cabinet nominees and the other half on impeachment matters.

• Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-ranking member of the House Republican leadership, is among more than two dozen Republicans who signaled they would break from their party and vote to impeach Trump.

• "There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution," she said in a statement Tuesday.

Trial In The Senate: Two-thirds of the chamber would have to vote to convict Trump. The Senate exonerated Trump last year on charges of abuse of power and contempt of Congress after special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, but the charge against Trump this time is more clear-cut.

Under the Constitution, the Senate could prevent him from holding federal office again and strip him of other perks afforded to former presidents.

As lawmakers debated the need for and grave potential consequence of impeaching Trump for a second time, the FBI warned of armed protests in the days ahead of Biden’s inauguration. Statehouses in all 50 states have been targeted for protests. The agency is also monitoring chatter on an encrypted messaging platform about plans by Trump extremists to form perimeters around the Capitol, the White House and the Supreme Court building as Biden takes the oath of office.

SEE ALSO:

• 'Armed Marches' Threatened In NC Before Inauguration
• 25th Amendment Resolution: How NC Delegation Voted
• NC Law Enforcement On Alert Following FBI Warning
• Trump Betrayed Our Country, Unfit To Lead: Gov. Cooper
• 'Trump Bears Responsibility For Today's Events': NC's Sen. Burr