Articles of impeachment charging US President Donald Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors have been drafted by Reps. David Cicilline (D-RI), Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and are expected to be introduced in the US House of Representatives on Monday.
The motion will charge Trump with incitement to insurrection "by willfully inciting violence against the government of the United States," according to a draft of the articles supplied to NBC News on Friday.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) raised the call of impeachment while the chaos was still unfolding at the Capitol on Wednesday. Since then, numerous other Democratic lawmakers have sounded off in support of the move.
“Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate,” Omar tweeted at the time. “We can’t allow him to remain in office, it’s a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath.”
However, a top US federal prosecutor told reporters on Friday that the Department of Justice would not be charging Trump with incitement to violence for the riotous storming and ransacking of the US Capitol by his supporters following a speech in which he encouraged them to "stop the steal."
The draft impeachment document notes that while Congress was convened to certify the Electoral College's votes for US president, Trump "addressed a crowd of his political supporters nearby. There, he reiterated false claims that 'we won this election, and we won it by a landslide.' He also willfully made statements that encouraged - and foreseeably resulted in - imminent lawless action at the Capitol."
"Incited by Trump, a mob unlawfully breached the Capitol, injured law enforcement personnel, menaced members of Congress and the vice president, interfered with the Joint Session's solemn constitutional duty to certify the election results, and engaged in violent, deadly, destructive and seditious acts," the draft articles continue.
"Wherefore President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States."
The January 6 insurrection left five people dead, including one Capitol Police officer and one rioter whom an officer shot through the neck inside the building, and caused extensive damage to the building including smashed windows, doors and furniture, looting of items, and reportedly the smearing of feces in the corridors. More than 6,000 US National Guard troops have been mobilized to restore order and will occupy the capital city and immediate environs through the January 20 inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden.
Trump was previously impeached in December 2019 on two charges - abuse of power and obstruction of Congress - for his role in allegedly pushing the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into the business dealings of Biden's son, Hunter Biden, and his subsequent attempts to frustrate a congressional probing of the incident. Trump was acquitted by a strongly Republican Senate in February 2020.