2nd Trump Impeachment: How WI Congressional Delegation Voted

WISCONSIN—U.S. representatives from Wisconsin voted 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 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.

Rep. Gwen Moore tweeted, "The open wound in America right now is the big lie that the election was stolen. Republicans want healing but we can’t reconcile without them acknowledging the basic truth: Biden won the election and Trump encouraged a deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol to overturn the election." Moore also said, "Trump inciting the Capitol riot is impeachable, but the most salient reason to act now is to prevent more harm that can’t be undone. He gets more dangerous as January 20th approaches."

Rep. Bryan Steil released the following statement:

"I voted against impeaching President Trump. This impeachment vote not only sets a horrible precedent for future administrations, but it further divides the country. Speaker Pelosi's sham process included no hearings, no investigation, no witness testimony, and no due process. Despite all other challenges facing our country, like vaccine allocation and distribution, we are spending time on a divisive impeachment one week before the inauguration of the next president. When Congress uses its constitutional powers for political expediency, no one wins,"Steil said.

Here’s how Wisconsin's delegation voted on the impeachment:

Bryan Steil (R-Janesville): No

Mark Pocan (D-Madison): Yes

Ron Kind (D-La Crosse): Yes

Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee): Yes

Scott L. Fitzgerald (R-Juneau): No

Glenn Grothman (R-Campbellsport): No

Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst) Republican: No

Mike Gallagher (R-Green Bay): No

What's Next: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said "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."

• 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.

• 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. WI Patch coverage. 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.

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