2nd Trump Impeachment: How NY's House Delegation Voted

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. representatives from New York voted along party lines, except for one Republican who voted with Democrats, for 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 United States 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 killing of a Capitol police officer. Multiple arrests have been made amid 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.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn) said Trump incited the riots during a Jan. 6 speech in which he told a crowd near the White House, "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."

"President Trump has made clear in word and deed that he will persist in such conduct if he is not removed from power," Nadler said on the House floor Wednesday. "He poses a continuing threat to our nation, to the integrity of our elections, and to our democratic order. He must not remain in power one moment longer."

Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-Westchester/Rockland) called Trump "disgraced and defeated."

"There must be consequences for last week’s treason & sedition," Jones said. "Today’s impeachment sends the message that no one in the United States of America is above the law. The world is watching."

Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, a staunch Trump ally from Suffolk County, voted against impeachment, arguing the attack at the Capitol was "pre-planned and it started while the president was speaking."

Freshman Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino, also of Suffolk County, said he while he believed "the president bears some responsibility" for the storming of the Capitol, he voted against impeaching Trump.

"Impeachment should not be taken lightly or hastily pushed through Congress," Garbarino said. "A serious impeachment process requires adequate investigations, congressional hearings, and careful deliberation on behalf of all Members of Congress and their constituents."

Ten Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach, including one New Yorker: Rep. John Katko, whose upstate district includes Syracuse.

"To allow this president of the United States to incite this attack without consequence is a direct threat to the future of our democracy," Katko said.

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 said Wednesday he intends to “listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate.”

McConnell's staff said he 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

A two-thirds majority of the Senate is necessary 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. 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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