Ruppersberger Votes to Impeach President Trump for Inciting Insurrection

(Washington, DC) – Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger today joined a bipartisan majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in supporting an Article of Impeachment charging President Donald Trump with inciting insurrection. H. Res. 24, which was cosponsored by a majority of House members including Congressman Ruppersberger, passed in a vote of 232 to 197. You can see his video statement here.

The Article of Impeachment states that President Trump engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by inciting violence against the U.S. government. You can read the text of the article here.

Congressman Ruppersberger issued the following statement:

“Today, I joined with a bipartisan majority of my colleagues in the House of Representatives in voting to impeach President Trump for a second time since he took office. This is an unprecedented action warranted by this unprecedented moment in history.

Impeachment is not something I take lightly. As a former prosecutor, I value due process, evidence and facts. There is clear and indisputable evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors. President Trump – through his actions over the course of several months, not just moments before – incited a violent insurrection that resulted in five deaths and injuries to more than 50 police officers, 15 of which were hospitalized. Without the heroism of many of our law enforcement officers, the carnage could have been far worse.

President Trump put this riot in motion weeks before Election Day, when he began his baseless complaints about mail-in ballots and fraud. Since he lost, he’s been ramping up the dangerous rhetoric, knowingly and falsely claiming the election was rigged and ‘stolen.’ He created a ‘combustible environment of misinformation, disenfranchisement and division,’ as Republican Congressman John Katko put it yesterday.

Over and over again, President Trump urged his supporters to come to Washington for the certification on January 6, telling them they needed to gather and ‘fight like hell.’  Moments before they began their siege, he gave them explicit instructions to ‘show strength’ as they marched to the Capitol. I was here – I watched the violence unfold outside my office window as I sheltered in place with my staff.

He ignored the desperate pleas of lawmakers, law enforcement and even his own aides as he watched the brutality unfold on live television.

This wasn’t just an attack on the U.S. Capitol. It was an attack on our country and our democracy. We cannot let it go unchallenged. Donald Trump deserves an impeachment trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold future elected office.”