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WASHINGTON — All 13 Texas Democrats in Congress have signaled some level of support for impeaching President Donald Trump after a mob marched on the Capitol on Wednesday at the Republican’s urging.
Some of those Democrats conditioned their backing of impeachment on whether or not Vice President Mike Pence first invokes the 25th Amendment to remove the president.
But the quick coalescing behind the idea highlights the fury on Capitol Hill over the insurrection carried out by Trump supporters. It also signals the strong possibility that the Democrat-run House will proceed with impeachment in the final days of Trump’s White House tenure.
“We cannot in good conscience move forward as a nation without addressing the events of Jan. 6 and assigning responsibility,” said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas. “That is why I am … announcing my intention to support articles of impeachment.”
The other Texas Democrats in Congress are Reps. Colin Allred of Dallas, Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, Henry Cuellar of Laredo, Lloyd Doggett of Austin, Veronica Escobar of El Paso, Lizzie Fletcher of Houston, Sylvia Garcia of Houston, Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen, Al Green of Houston, Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston, Marc Veasey of Fort Worth and Filemon Vela of Brownsville.
“Every day that he sits in the Oval Office, he’s a danger to our democracy, a danger to democracy around the world,” Allred said on Lone Star Politics, a Sunday public affairs show produced by KXAS-TV (NBC 5).
Trump has already been impeached once over his Ukraine dealings.
In that case, it took much longer for a critical mass of Democrats to throw their support behind the impeachment effort, though all 13 Texas Democrats did ultimately back the effort. The GOP-run Senate ended up acquitting Trump, mostly along party lines.
It’s unclear if the outcome would be any different this time around.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, on Friday called on Trump to resign, and others haven’t hesitated to blame the president for the Capitol riot. But impeachment would still be tricky, in part because so few days remain in Trump’s term.
Democrats, though, appear poised to try.
“We must hold President Trump accountable for inciting an attack on our democracy,” Cuellar wrote on Twitter, explaining that he was “joining my colleagues in supporting the consideration of articles of impeachment.”
Some Texas Republicans in Congress have already made clear their opposition to impeachment.
“Enough is enough — this is a ridiculous effort by Nancy Pelosi to further divide the country,” said San Antonio Rep. Tony Gonzales, who didn’t object to any Electoral College votes. “I would strongly oppose any efforts to impeach the president.”
Austin Rep. Chip Roy took a similar stance.
“By its design, it will only further sow division among the American people and heighten, rather than de-escalate, the tensions we currently feel in our nation,” said Roy, who also didn’t join in objecting the electoral votes.
Terrell Rep. Lance Gooden, among the objectors, also took to Twitter to accuse Democrats of setting a “dangerous precedent,” adding that this “completely contradicts their calls for PEACE.”