Impeached: Donald Trump, the President of self-proclaimed firsts and superlatives, yesterday became the first American president to be impeached twice. To paraphrase Trump, “It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”

  Trump is accused of “incitement of insurrection” in last week’s capitol takeover. The Democratic-controlled House voted 232-197, with 10 Republicans crossing over to go with the majority.

  Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said he will not call the Senate back to work until Tuesday to begin putting Trump on trial, meaning Trump will no longer be President when judgement is rendered.

 Presenting her argument on the House floor, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “The president must be impeached, and I believe the president must be convicted by the Senate, a constitutional remedy that will ensure that the Republic will be safe from this man who was so resolutely determined to tear down the things that we hold dear, and that hold us together.”

  She said, “The president saw the insurrectionists, not as the foes of freedom, as they are, but as the means to a terrible goal, the goal of his personally clinging to power, the goal of thwarting the will of the people, the goal of the ending in a fiery and bloody clash nearly two and a half centuries of our democracy.”

  Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said, “Upon the foundations of virtue, reason, and patient wisdom laid down by George Washington as our first President, Donald Trump has constructed a glass palace of lies, fearmongering, and sedition.  Last Wednesday, on January 6, the nation and the world watched it shatter to pieces.” 

  Joe Biden will be President Wednesday at noon and he’s not enthusiastic about a trial. He said  yesterday, “I hope that the Senate leadership will find a way to deal with their Constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation.”

  Among the Republicans who voted to impeach was Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who said Trump “encouraged an angry mob to storm the United States Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes.”

  Liz Cheney of Wyoming, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, said last week’s insurrection caused “death and destruction in the most sacred space in our republic.”

Abe Lincoln for the Defense: Among Republicans arguing against impeachment yesterday, the favorite quote was from Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural appeal for understanding and forgiveness to “swell the chorus of the Union,” he said, “by the better angels of our nature.”

  It was as if they were all trying to prove they finished high school. Republicans suddenly called for unity and better angels rather than accountability for Trump. House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy said,  “As leaders, our place in history depends on whether we call on our better angels and refocus our efforts to work directly for the American people.”

  The fiery Jim Jordan of Ohio, who is not one of the better angels, said, “It’s always been about getting the President no matter what. It’s an obsession. An obsession that has now broadened. It’s not just about impeachment anymore. It’s about canceling.”

  Making a name for herself already is freshman Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who voted against impeachment and has bragged that she’ll go to the House strapped with her Glock. Yesterday she refused to go through the metal detectors at the Capitol or turn over her bag.

Inside Job: New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill claims that she saw members of Congress on January 5th suspiciously leading groups of people through the Capitol in what she has described in a Facebook Live video as “a reconnaissance for the next day.” She said in a letter to authorities that despite pandemic limits, the visitors seemed to get special treatment and “appeared to be associated with the rally at the White House the following day.”

  Her letter, also signed by 33 other House Democrats, described an “extremely high number of outside groups” to the Capitol Complex on January 5th. She did not name the House members she saw leading the groups.

Late for Dinner: President Trump yesterday released a video condemnation of violence that he should have delivered the day the Capitol was assaulted. He said, “Mob violence goes against everything I believe in and everything our movement stands for.” More than once he mentioned a “movement,” but didn’t say exactly what that is. It does mean he believes he’s still politically alive. 

Dragnet: Federal authorities so far have charged 70 suspects in the insurrection and opened at least 160 cases.

  Among those arrested is 38-year-old Klete Keller, an Olympic gold medal swimmer who entered the Capitol Rotunda wearing a Team USA. jacket, his face covering pulled down around his neck. He’s 6-foot-6 and easy to spot. 

  Also arrested are Adam Mostofsky, the son of a Brooklyn judge photographed inside the Capitol in fur pelts and a bulletproof vest, and Josiah Colt of Meridian, Idaho, photographed hanging from a balcony and landing on the Senate floor. 

 Robert Packer, 56, of Newport News, Virginia was arrested. He’s the man who wore a black sweatshirt emblazoned with “Camp Auschwitz” on the chest.

  One suspect, 53-year-old Christopher Stanton, who was an investment manager, committed suicide Saturday in the basement of his Alpharetta, Georgia home. 

The Bulletin Board: Fearing that they might be housing insurrectionists, Airbnb is cancelling all reservations in the Washington, DC, metro area next week. — Hundreds of National Guard soldiers are being housed in the Capitol reception center for inauguration protection duty. Up to 20,000 guardsmen, many of them armed, are in town— President-elect Biden, who’s spent his adult life in politics commuting from his Wilmington, Delaware home to DC by Amtrak, had planned to go to the inauguration the same way. With all the craziness going on, he’s not taking the train this time. 

The Time of Cholera: Only Donald Trump could eclipse the news of a pandemic. Another 3,963 Americans died in the last 24 hours. 

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