2nd Trump Impeachment: How Rep. Josh Gottheimer Voted

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Representative Josh Gottheimer voted to impeach President Donald Trump on a charge that he incited the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week. The House voted 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.

"After inciting last week's violent insurrection, the President has still not resigned, and the VP has said he will not invoke the 25th amendment," said Rep. Josh Gottheimer.

"Today, Congress must hold the President accountable and move forward with impeachment so that our nation can begin to heal."

Gottheimer joined his fellow New Jersey Democrats in voting in favor of impeachment.

What's Next: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will not agree to reconvene the Senate before Jan. 19, blocking an impeachment trial until then.

• 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.

• 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.

READ MORE: State, Local Police Brace For Possible Violence At NJ Capitol

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.

In Trenton, Mayor W. Reed Gusciora said on Wednesday that his police department is working with the State Police, the Mercer County Sheriff's Department and the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office "as part of a coordinated plan to ensure our safety if any protesters stray beyond the First Amendment right to peaceful protest."

In a message to the community, Gusciora said he was hopeful that the violence seen in Washington DC on Jan. 6 isn't repeated this weekend.

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