Rep. Katherine Clark, the assistant House speaker, predicted Friday that the full chamber could vote to again impeach President Donald Trump as early as the middle of next week for inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol in a deadly riot.
“Donald Trump needs to be removed from office, and we are going to proceed with every tool that we have to make sure that that happens to protect our democracy,” Clark (D-Mass.) told CNN in an interview Friday morning.
“If the reports are correct, and [Vice President] Mike Pence is not going to uphold his oath of office and remove the president and help protect our democracy, then we will move forward with impeachment to do just that,” she said.
Clark acknowledged that House Democrats “have limited time” to launch the proceedings against the president — who only has 12 days left in office and was already impeached by the chamber in 2019 on charges of abusing his power and obstructing congressional investigations.
But Clark insisted that she and her colleagues “can use procedural tools to get articles of impeachment to the floor for a House vote quickly. We have already had [House Judiciary Chair] Jerry Nadler … say that he will use those tools to bring the articles as fast as possible.”
Pressed further on the timing of the potential proceedings, Clark said: “That will be, you know, [as] early as mid-next week.”
House Democrats “can act very quickly when we want to,” she added, arguing that lawmakers “cannot hide behind procedural rules. This is the time for action. This is a crisis of our Constitution and of our democracy.”
Clark’s remarks come after scores of congressional Democrats, numerous former federal officials, some governors and at least one Republican House member have all demanded Trump’s immediate removal from office — either by impeachment or the Cabinet’s invocation of the 25th Amendment.
On Thursday, both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, as did Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). Several administration officials have resigned since the pro-Trump riot on Wednesday, which resulted in the deaths of five people — including a U.S. Capitol Police officer.