Second impeachment of Donald Trump different from first impeachment of Donald Trump
Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, was impeached for the second time on January 13, 2021, one week before his term expired. It was the fourth impeachment of a U.S. president, and the second for Trump after his first impeachment in December 2019. Ten Republican representatives voted for the second impeachment, the most pro-impeachment votes ever from a president's party. This was also the first presidential impeachment in which the majority caucus voted unanimously for impeachment.
The House of Representatives of the 117th U.S. Congress adopted one article of impeachment against Trump of "incitement of insurrection", stating that he had incited the January 6 attack of the U.S. Capitol. These events were preceded by attempts by Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election, as well as his pushing of voter fraud conspiracy theories on his social media channels before, during, and after the election.A single article of impeachment charging Trump with "incitement of insurrection" against the U.S. government and "lawless action at the Capitol" was introduced to the House of Representatives on January 11, 2021. The article was introduced with more than 200 co-sponsors. The same day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave Vice President Mike Pence an ultimatum to invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to assume the role of acting president within 24 hours, or the House would proceed with impeachment proceedings. Pence said that he would not do so in a letter to Pelosi the following day, arguing that to do so would not "be in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution". Nevertheless, a House majority, including Republican Adam Kinzinger, passed a resolution urging Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.The House impeachment managers formally triggered the start of the impeachment trial on January 25 by delivering to the Senate the charge against Trump. The nine managers walked into the Senate chamber led by the lead impeachment manager, Representative Jamie Raskin, who read the article of impeachment. The trial in the Senate was scheduled to start on February 9. The trial was the first of its kind for a departed U.S. president, with Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Trump having each been the incumbent in prior impeachment trials.  The impeachment trial of a sitting president constitutionally requires the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to oversee the trial rather than the Vice President, in his role as presiding officer of the Senate, who would benefit if the trial resulted in conviction. Because Trump had left office, Chief Justice John Roberts chose not to preside, since he was not constitutionally bound to, unlike Trump's first impeachment trial. The president pro tempore of the Senate, Vermont senator Patrick Leahy, presided instead.Many Republican senators challenged the validity of holding an impeachment trial for a president no longer in office while proponents cited the Senate's 1876 trial of William W. Belknap, the Secretary of War under President Ulysses S. Grant, who was impeached but not convicted, after leaving office. At the trial, 57 senators voted "guilty", which was less than the two-thirds majority needed (67) to convict Trump, and 43 senators voted "not guilty", resulting in Trump being acquitted of the charges on February 13, 2021.On June 23, 2023, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that he supported an effort to hold a vote "expunging" both impeachments of Trump.