House Makes Trump the First President Impeached Twice After Capitol Riot

The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump for a second time, delivering an extraordinary constitutional rebuke just one week after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to halt the certification of the 2020 election. Lawmakers approved a single article charging Trump with incitement of insurrection, a grave accusation that linked his conduct directly to the violence that erupted on Jan. 6. The final vote was 232-197, a tally that reflected both the depth of the crisis and the persistence of partisan division even after the nation watched rioters breach the seat of government. A notable group of Republicans joined Democrats in support of impeachment, though most members of the GOP conference opposed the measure. With the vote, Trump became the first president in American history to be impeached twice, an unmistakable mark on a presidency already defined by confrontation, upheaval and repeated tests of democratic norms. The impeachment article centered on Trump’s role in stoking the anger that fueled the attack on Congress, where lawmakers had gathered to carry out one of their most basic constitutional responsibilities. The proceedings to certify the Electoral College results were thrown into chaos when thousands of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol, overwhelmed police lines, smashed through barriers and forced members to flee for safety. Inside the building, the scene quickly descended into panic as rioters wandered the halls, damaged offices and interrupted the formal transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden. The images from that day — shattered windows, broken doors, officers under siege and the flag-waving mob moving through the halls of Congress — gave the impeachment debate a stark backdrop that could not be ignored. Supporters of the charge argued that Trump’s repeated false claims that the election had been stolen, along with his pressure campaign to stop Congress from accepting the results, created the conditions for the assault. They said the president could not be separated from the events of Jan. 6 because the attack followed directly from the months of rhetoric and escalation that had come before it. The House debate underscored how deeply the riot had shaken the institution and how differently lawmakers interpreted the proper constitutional response. Democrats argued that impeachment was necessary because a president accused of inciting a mob against Congress had crossed a line that a democratic system could not simply absorb and move past. They framed the vote as more than a partisan punishment, describing it instead as an urgent defense of the republic after a direct attack on the chamber responsible for counting electoral votes and formalizing the will of the voters. Republican opponents pushed back, saying the process was moving too fast and that lawmakers were acting under the pressure of outrage rather than deliberation. Some said Trump would no longer be in office by the time any Senate trial could take place, making impeachment appear to them to be more symbolic than practical. Others argued that the matter should be left to the criminal justice system, to voters, or to future political judgment rather than resolved through removal proceedings so late in his term. Even among Republicans who expressed discomfort with Trump’s conduct, many were unwilling to support impeachment, illustrating just how stubbornly the party remained split in the wake of the attack. Still, the House vote carried significance well beyond the formal tally. It was a constitutional act taken while the country was still processing a violent assault on the peaceful transfer of power, an event many lawmakers regarded as too serious to treat as another episode of ordinary partisan warfare. The result showed that Trump had lost support from a meaningful number of lawmakers in his own party, even as most Republicans continued to stand by him or avoided breaking openly with him. It also suggested that some members viewed Jan. 6 not as an isolated burst of lawlessness, but as the culmination of weeks of escalating pressure built on Trump's refusal to concede and his repeated efforts to delegitimize the election outcome. By acting when it did, the House made clear that it was judging more than a single speech or rally. It was responding to a broader pattern of conduct that opponents said helped set the stage for the siege of the Capitol. Whether the Senate would eventually convict Trump remained uncertain, but the lower chamber had already recorded a historic judgment. In the immediate aftermath of an attack that shocked the nation and left the Capitol visibly scarred, lawmakers declared that the president’s actions warranted the most serious constitutional response available to them.