Washington (US), January 13: Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives are not actively preventing members of their party from voting to impeach President Donald Trump, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
House Republican leaders are making a tacit break with Trump ahead of Wednesday's vote to charge him with inciting insurrection over last week's deadly riots on Capitol Hill, the report added.
Trump, who, in 2019 became the first president to be impeached for inviting foreign interference in US elections, is facing the prospect again, this time on grounds of inciting his supporters to attack the Capitol last week to prevent Congress from certifying the election win of Democrat Joe Biden.
While the outgoing president was acquitted in the Republican-controlled Senate after his impeachment by the House, he might not have the same luck if impeached again, when the next Senate, which will have a Democratic majority, is in session.
While Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that he would "personally" oppose impeachment and seek to steer Republicans away from the move, he has not publicly leaned on lawmakers to vote against a second impeachment, the Times reported.
In the current Senate, Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has conspicuously declined to defend Trump while several senate Republicans have already called upon the president to resign immediately.
If all Senators vote, just 17 Republicans will be required to join the Democrats to convict Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors. In that event, the majority would disqualify him from ever again holding public office.
Five people, including a policeman on duty and a female air force veteran who supported Trump, died during Wednesday's violent attack on the US Capitol by a armed pro-Trump mob. The president is under heavy pressure to resign before his term ends on January 20, or face an unprecedented second impeachment.
Source: Sputnik