Call your Members of Congress (MoCs)–your House Rep on how they voted in yesterday’s Impeachment proceedings, and your two Senators on the upcoming trial to remove Trump.
If you prefer to cut to the chase, scroll down a bit for the House Rep script, then scroll down to the bottom for the Senate script.
On January 13, 2021, the House of Representatives voted in favor of impeaching Donald Trump on a charge of incitement of insurrection.
The vote was 232 in favor to 197 against, with four not voting.
All the House Democrats voted to impeach.
Ten Republicans voted to impeach. An additional four Republicans did not cast a vote.
NPR published the full list of how everyone voted. See it here:
Check the NPR list, check your House Rep’s social media, and then call.
For the Democrats and the 10 Republicans who voted in favor:
“Dear House Rep/Senator <Lastname>, I am <Firstname Lastname> from <town, state, zip code>.
I am calling/emailing to support the effort to impeach and remove President Donald Trump.
I see that you voted in favor of impeachment yesterday, and I wanted to thank you for your vote. I appreciate it.
<Possibly say this to the Republicans: I realize you were under a lot of pressure to vote no. I thank you for doing the right thing.>
<Also note: Republican Tom Rice of South Carolina’s 7th District is a fish with fur in this context. He is among the 147 who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election AND he subsequently voted to impeach Trump.
See Rice’s statement on his impeachment vote: https://rice.house.gov/press-releases?id=82E3197A-CF57-4AEB-91EB-5A0EA39C3575
If he’s your House Rep, maybe say to him: I notice you were among the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election and also among the 10 who just voted to impeach. While I don’t approve of the first vote, I appreciate the second, and I thank you for it.>
I now ask you to support your colleagues in the Senate and urge them to vote to remove Trump from office and bar him from running again, even if the vote ends up taking place after January 20.
Thank you for taking this call.”
Now to the Senate. Within minutes of the House’s vote to impeach, GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement that repeated that the earliest the removal trial could begin in the chamber would be Tuesday, January 19, 2021. [The Senate is in recess and McConnell won’t call them back.]
We’ll drop the link below, but it’s short enough to reproduce in full:
“The House of Representatives has voted to impeach the President. The Senate process will now begin at our first regular meeting following receipt of the article from the House.
“Given the rules, procedures, and Senate precedents that govern presidential impeachment trials, there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week. The Senate has held three presidential impeachment trials. They have lasted 83 days, 37 days, and 21 days respectively.
“Even if the Senate process were to begin this week and move promptly, no final verdict would be reached until after President Trump had left office. This is not a decision I am making; it is a fact. The President-elect himself stated last week that his inauguration on January 20 is the ‘quickest’ path for any change in the occupant of the presidency.
“In light of this reality, I believe it will best serve our nation if Congress and the executive branch spend the next seven days completely focused on facilitating a safe inauguration and an orderly transfer of power to the incoming Biden Administration. I am grateful to the offices and institutions within the Capitol that are working around the clock, alongside federal and local law enforcement, to prepare for a safe and successful inauguration at the Capitol next Wednesday.”
Link to McConnell’s statement: https://www.republicanleader.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/mcconnell-statement-on-senate-schedule-jan-2021
Others on Twitter have pointed out the advantages in being forced to idle.
It gives more time for facts about the events of January 6 to come out.
Earlier yesterday, Democratic Massachusetts House Rep Ayanna Pressley, one of the four who have been deemed part of “the Squad”, revealed that when she and her staffers barricaded themselves into her office, they discovered that the panic buttons had been pulled out.
Story on same: https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2021/01/13/ayanna-pressley-office-panic-buttons
New Jersey House Rep Mikie Sherrill called for an investigation into tours of the Capitol she witnessed on January 5 and described as “reconnaissance missions”.
Delaying the removal trial to January 19 also allows more time for Republican Senators to wrap their heads around acting against Trump.
But, of course, parking the article of Impeachment for a week does nothing for the nation’s collective anxiety. Trump is the monster rampaging across the landscape–it makes no sense to wait to take him out. Even if it’s not physically possible to remove him before January 20, the Senate should be called back into session to start work on bouncing his wretched hide. [They’d need to take a separate vote to bar him from running for public office in the future; that doesn’t come with a successful removal.]
So here’s the thing. You should call your two Senators, and we will give you a script for that. We’re not sure if asking McConnell to call the Senate back into session is effective. Never mind that he says he won’t do it; if it makes sense to pressure him to come back early, we should.
Until we get a clear answer on this matter we’re offering a more general script.
“Dear House Rep/Senator <Lastname>, I am <Firstname Lastname> from <town, state, zip code>.
I am calling/emailing to support the effort to remove President Donald Trump.
I support this effort even if it proves impossible to remove him before his term of office ends.
It’s important to proceed with the trial to send a message to future presidents who might try to do the things Trump did on January 6.
I understand that GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is refusing to call the Senate back into session before January 19. This is disappointing, and I do not like this.
I am asking you to support the removal trial, and to be ready to serve as a juror.
Thanks for considering this request.”
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