2nd Trump Impeachment: How Rep. Donald Payne Of NJ Voted

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr. of New Jersey voted to impeach President Donald Trump for the second time on Wednesday.

Payne, who represents the state's 10th District, was among the House of Representative members who voted to impeach Trump on a charge that he incited the violent 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.

“This president will go down in history as the worst one America has ever had,” Payne said after voting Wednesday.

According to Payne, Trump has shown a "reckless disregard for the safety and security of the American people through his coronavirus response and his support for an insurrection against our country."

"President Trump’s urging of rioters and domestic terrorists to siege our Capitol Building, a symbol of democracy worldwide, shows he must be removed from office immediately," the congressman said. "Once he is removed, we can work to restore America as one nation again with liberty and justice for all."

Payne was among the Democratic Party leaders in New Jersey who also voted to impeach Trump last year. He's been a consistent critic of the president during his term, and on Tuesday evening, voted in favor of a resolution asking Vice President Mike Pence invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

• See related article: Rep. Payne Of NJ On Capitol 'Assault:' A Sad, Sad Day For America
• See related article: NJ Congressman: 11 Things I Won't Miss When Trump Leaves Office

New Jersey's 10th Congressional District covers portions of Essex, Hudson and Union counties, including the following municipalities: Bloomfield, East Orange, Glen Ridge, Irvington, Maplewood, Montclair, Newark, Orange, South Orange, West Orange, Bayonne, Jersey City, Hillside, Linden, Rahway, Roselle, Roselle Park and Union Township.

Wednesday's 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.

What's Next

If an impeachment trial is allowed in the Senate, it will be after Biden is inaugurated, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky 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.

• 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.

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This article contains reporting from the Patch national desk

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