Last Updated on January 13, 2021, 1:32 PM | Published: January 13, 2021
U.S. Representative Stephanie Bice (R-CD5) issued a news release at noon Wednesday announcing her intent to vote against the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
She referred to the effort by mostly Democrats and some prominent Republican House members as a “rushed vote.”
“Today’s rushed vote is one for political expediency that will only impede efforts to heal the nation, and therefore I will not be voting to impeach President Trump,” Bice said. “I will not vote to further divide this nation at a time when we should be focused on helping the American people and unifying the country.”
More than a few people voting and debating the impeachment resolution’s procedures were targets of the rioters who told their own social media followers they were there to kill or kidnap certain House members and the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
Bice argued that Trump has a right to a legal defense, there has been no “substantive investigation, or process for evidence to be brought forth from both sides for members of the House to review.”
One point of her argument was that “there are just seven days left in this administration,” and that “the President and Vice President have both agreed to a peaceful transition of power.”
However, Trump had already made such a pronouncement well before the insurrection. Americans and people around the world watched with horror as it transpired Wednesday, January 6 where one member of the Capitol Police died from an attack by one of the rioters and sever other officers were injured as they were overwhelmed by the Trump crowd.
Bice issued a statement after the insurrection condemning “rioters” but never acknowledged that they were followers of Trump or had been encouraged by him.
The nation’s Capitol is now on high alert as the Inauguration nears on January 20th.
The FBI has warned Washington security officials and the Secret Service of plans they are hearing for violent attacks on the Capitol again and on state’s Capitols.
Republicans divided
Bice was not part of a unified Republican Party on the issue, though.
Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the party’s third-ranking House leader, and an ardent conservative announced early on that she would vote for the Impeachment of Trump.
“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President,” said Cheney. She said that Trump could have stopped the attack and did not.
January 6 insurrection
Ahead of time, Trump urged his followers to come to Washington, D.C. January 6 when Electoral College votes were to be counted. He then urged them to march on the nation’s Capitol during a rally in the morning urging them to “fight like hell!”
In that rally he and his two sons and his legal counsel Rudy Giulianni gave incendiary speeches rehearsing grievances of Trump about the election and how he believed it had been “stolen.”
At the rally, Giuliani said that it was time for “trial by combat” and Trump’s son, Don, Jr. shouted in his speech about going to the Hill, “We’re coming for you!”
Trump then watched on TV in the White House for hours as his supporters fought with Capitol Police and rampaged through the Halls of Congress, some stating openly on social media their desire to kill certain members of Congress.
Several of the officers were seriously injured with one dying from being beaten with a fire extinguisher by one of Trump’s followers who was a part of the insurrection.
Even when he finally made a video telling his followers to go home he still maintained that the last Presidential election he lost was a “stolen election.” In that same video he told those attacking the Capitol that he loved them and that they were “special people.”
Citing Trump’s instigation on social media, all of the big social media companies have now suspended Trump’s accounts including YouTube, the last one to ban Trump.
Election results are certain
All fifty states certified their elections, some after audits and recounts of paper ballots. They selected electors according to their state’s laws. Close to 90 court challenges across multiple states were thrown out.
Joe Biden won the election by a margin of around seven million votes over Trump in an election that showed the highest number of votes cast for presidential candidates in history.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
