John, I want to give you an update.
Earlier this week we emailed asking if you would sign the petition demanding the impeachment of Donald Trump after he incited the dangerous, coordinated attack on the Capitol.
Since then, the situation has escalated. Now, many of our country’s top leaders — including over 100 members of both parties in Congress, former Cabinet members and Democratic congressional leaders such as Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Cori Bush — are calling for Donald Trump to be removed through either impeachment or invocation of the 25th Amendment.
These are unprecedented measures, but these are unprecedented times. Trump has repeatedly affirmed that he is unfit to serve the remainder of his term, and is an imminent danger to our country.
Congress needs to act immediately to remove him from office, prevent him from further endangering our country, and block him from ever running for office again. Whether it’s impeachment and conviction by Congress or the invocation of the 25th Amendment by Vice President Pence and a majority of the Cabinet, we must act fast.
So, how does this work? If Pence and a majority of the Cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment, Trump will have his powers revoked, which includes access to nuclear weapons and the power to declare war. Trump’s powers cannot be revoked during the impeachment process.
If the 25th Amendment is invoked, Vice President Pence will serve as the acting President until the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20th.
Impeachment begins with committee hearings in the House. Should the House Committees vote to move forward with impeachment, a floor vote will take place in the House. A two-thirds majority is needed for the impeachment to continue into the Senate.
If the House secures a two-thirds vote, Mitch McConnell cannot stop a trial on the Articles of Impeachment in the Senate. He can only delay it.
Future Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has already indicated that he would be interested in holding the trial in the new Senate even after Trump leaves office.
During the trial, all 100 Senators must attend and have three options:
The last option disbars Trump from holding future office but does not remove him from the presidency.
What is critical about the Articles of Impeachment is that all members will be on record for their votes.
Already, there are co-sponsors from both parties across the country. But we cannot let up just yet. We need to continue to pressure Congress to act swiftly and let them know that we the people are done with Trump’s shenanigans.
John, our work demanding meaningful climate action requires us to defend our democracy, and for it to survive and thrive.
Fossil fuel and fascism go hand in hand — one cannot exist without the other. That’s why fossil fuel companies have spent the last half century bankrolling far-right extremist politicians buying them off to spread lies about climate change and thwarting the action we need — despite the fact that the majority of Americans support bold climate action.
Today, we must take this important step to protect our democracy against all attempts to subvert the will of the people, whether it’s white supremacists or the fossil fuel industry.
Whether it’s impeachment, the 25th Amendment, or the upcoming inauguration of the Biden-Harris administration, the people will inevitably kick Trump and his enablers out of office.
We’ll keep you posted in the coming days, but thank you for signing today.
More to come,
Natalie Mebane
350.org
 |
 |
 |
PO Box 843004, Boston, MA 02284-3004
This email was sent to [email protected]. Email is the most important way we keep in touch with people like you. If you need to remove yourself from our email list, unsubscribe here. You can also sign up to receive fewer emails. Update your email address, location, or language.
350.org is a global movement that fights for a just and equitable world by stopping the fossil fuel industry from continuing to destroy our climate.