RI Rep. David Cicilline Named Trump Impeachment Manager

Cranston RI

13 January, 2021

10:55 AM

Description

PROVIDENCE, RI — Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline was chosen to serve as an impeachment manager in a likely Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. "I am humbled that Speaker Pelosi has asked me to serve as an impeachment manager when we try Donald Trump before the United States Senate," Cicilline said in a statement. "The President is a clear and present danger to our republic. We will hold him accountable." The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the resolution Wednesday afternoon. If approved, Trump would be the first president in the country's history to be impeached on two separate occasions, and the measure would move to the Senate for a trial. Cicilline has been a vocal opponent of Trump throughout his presidency and has led the charge calling for his removal from office since the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol last week. Just one day after the attack, he and several House colleagues introduced articles of impeachment against the president, citing abuse of power for the president's role in inciting the riot. The night of the siege, Cicilline coauthored a letter calling for Vice President Mike Pence and members of Trump's cabinet to remove the president from office by invoking the 25th Amendment. "Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides the Vice President and a majority of sitting Cabinet secretaries with the authority to determine a president as unfit if he 'is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,'" the letter read in part. "Even in his video announcement this afternoon, President Trump revealed that he is not mentally sound and is still unable to process and accept the results of the 2020 election. President Trump's willingness to incite violence and social unrest to overturn the election results by force clearly meet this standard. So too are his recent Tweets, which Twitter has since deleted, saying the election was 'stolen' and that today's riots 'are the things and events that happen.'" Related: 'Say A Prayer For Our Country': RI Lawmakers On Capitol Chaos