President Trump impeached as Ohio Congresswomen Marcia Fudge and Marcy Kaptur comment on voting for impeachment, their congressional districts of which include parts of Cleveland....Fudge is a nominee for HUD secretary with Biden's incoming Cabinet and Kaptur is the longest serving woman in the House of Representatives....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

 

From left: Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, President Donald Trump, and Ohio 9th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman trained for 17 years as a reporter with the Call and Post Newspaper and is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news sites in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-Washington, D.C.- Led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted 232-197 on Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump on a single article of impeachment, the second time that House Democrats have impeached the president, a Republican real estate mogul and former television personality who upset Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the White House in 2016.

Only 10 Republican House members voted for impeachment.

All four of the Democratic congresspersons from Ohio, Joyce Beatty of Columbus, Tim Ryan out of the Youngstown area, Marcy Kaptur, whose ninth congressional district extends to Cleveland, and 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge,  a Warrensville Heights Democrat, voted to impeach.

A nominee for Housing and Urban Development secretary with Joe Biden's incoming Cabinet, Fudge's largely Black congressional district includes most of the city of Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County 

"The president attempted to overturn the results of a free and fair election and incited violence against his own government, " said Congresswoman Fudge. "Upholding my oath to support and defend the constitution, I just voted to impeach the president."

Kaptur called the impeachment at issue unprecedented.

“The decision to impeach a president is a grave one – it is a vote that no member wishes to cast in their lifetime,” said Rep. Kaptur, the longest serving woman in the House of Representatives. “In my nearly four decades of service in the House of Representatives, I have voted to impeach a president only twice – both times during President Trump’s term in office. The criminal invasion of the U.S. Capitol last week created this unprecedented moment in U.S. history when liberty lovers must respond in the strongest legal manner.”

Banned by Twitter and Facebook for allegedly citing violence, the president was unable to vent his frustrations on those top social media platforms but did release a video.

"I want to thank the hundreds of millions of credible American citizens who have responded to this moment with calm, moderation and grace," said Trump.  

He went on to say that "we will get through this challenge like we always do."

His first impeachment by the House that occurred roughly a year ago and that each and every Congressional Democrat supported, did not end in a conviction in the Senate, the final step toward a president's removal from office following impeachment in the House.

An effort by Congressional Democrats to convince Vice President Mike Pence prior to impeachment to push for removal of the president from office under the 25th Amendment, which would have required a majority vote from the president's Cabinet to materialize, failed. 

Trump, 74, is charged via the article of impeachment with "incitement of resurrection," after allegedly inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday that left four protesters and a Capitol police officer dead, and that temporarily halted efforts by Congress to officially certify President-elect Joe Biden's electoral college win.

Protesters, whom Trump egged on during a fiery speech before Wednesday's deadly siege on the Capitol, say the presidential election, in which Biden won both the electoral college and popular vote over Trump, was tainted, and stolen from the president. 

The impeachment measure now heads to the U.S. Senate for further assessment.

There, and after a hearing, two-thirds of the Senate must vote to convict the president in order to remove him from office.

Time is of essence, and will likely become a problem for Democrats  anxious to oust the president from the White House.

He has only seven more days in office and a Senate trial will likely not come before Trump leaves office, House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has said, making it clear that a prompt conclusion is out of reach for Democrats.

Currently the Senate is in recess and McConnell has said he will not call the Senate back in session simply for an impeachment trial. 

Democrats say that even if Trump leaves office, a subsequent conviction by the Senate could keep him from ever holding federal office again. 

A few Congressional Republicans, and some legal scholars, argue that once the president has left office a Senate conviction thereafter is unenforceable.

Democrats, and some Congressional Republicans who supported impeachment, say the president, through his actions, has betrayed the country, and that accountability is at the central core of impeachment.

Rep. Liz Chaney, a conservative Republican representing Wyoming who supported impeachment, spoke on the House floor before the impeachment vote was taken and said President Trump "summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack."

Whether Trump will be found guilty in the Senate of inciting insurrection and barred from ever holding federal office again remains to be seen as the Supreme Court in precedent setting cases has set a high bar in proving that a person incited a riot. 

All that was needed for impeachment was a yes vote from a simple majority of the 435 voting members of the House.  

Biden is set to be sworn in as president on Jan 20. 

As a Democratic president, he will serve with a Black female vice president in Kamala Harris, who will also be sworn in on Jan 20., and he will  enjoy a Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate after Democrats won a majority in the House two years ago and in the Senate last week when  two incumbent senators from Georgia lost their seats to Democrats. 

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news sites in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.