Pair of Washington GOP lawmakers vote to impeach President Trump
Jan 13, 2021, 11:12 AM | Updated: 1:52 pm
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (left) and Rep. Dan Newhouse (right). (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
Two Washington Republican representatives voted in favor of impeaching President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Opinion: WA Republicans share blame for Trump mob’s insurrection
Wednesday’s impeachment had the bipartisan support of 10 total Republicans, including Rep. Dan Newhouse and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler.
“A vote against this impeachment is a vote to validate the unacceptable violence we witnessed in our nation’s capital,” Newhouse said in a written statement. “It is also a vote to condone President Trump’s inaction. Our country needed a leader, and President Trump failed to fulfill his oath of office.”
Herrera Beutler cited similar reasoning for her vote, pointing out how “hours went by before the President did anything meaningful” to put a stop to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
Washington lawmakers join calls to remove President Trump from office
“Instead, he and his lawyers were busy making calls to senators who were still in lockdown, seeking support to further delay the Electoral College certification,” she described, labeling a video later released by Trump telling the mob to go home as “a pathetic denouncement of the violence that also served as a wink and a nod to those who perpetuated it.”
— Jaime Herrera Beutler (@HerreraBeutler) January 13, 2021
Both Herrera Beutler and Newhouse had previously voted against objections to the certification of Electoral College votes that officially finalized President-elect Joe Biden’s November victory.
Washington was one of only two states with two Republicans who voted in favor of impeachment.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers — the third Republican in Washington state’s Congressional delegation — opted against joining her two colleagues, stating that she didn’t believe the president’s words prior to the Jan. 6 riot constituted incitement.
Actual removal seems unlikely before the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Republican leader would not agree to bring the chamber back immediately, all be ensuring a Senate trial could not begin at least until Jan. 19.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
