Democratic Colorado representative Joe Neguse will play a major role in President Trump s impeachment trial. Author: Lori Lizarraga Updated: 7:16 PM MST January 14, 2021
DENVER Wednesday, 232 votes in the U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump for a second time. Democratic Colorado Representative Joe Neguse was one of those votes.
Neguse will play a major role in President Trump s impeachment trial, as one of nine impeachment managers.
Officially, the House has voted for a second time to impeach President Trump. Were you expecting the vote to go the way it did?
Rep. Neguse: It s been a very tough, difficult week for the country and today was certainly no exception. It’s a solemn moment. Impeachment is arguably the most powerful constitutional tool available to the House. It is not something that we take lightly. Certainly, we take no joy in it. It is a solemn, solemn day.
Westword: Do you have more confidence in recent federal cannabis bills like the Safe Banking Act or MORE Act now that Democrats control the Senate? Christian Sederberg: I m optimistic about everything. The biggest challenge in the last several years has been that even once something gets out of the House, like what we saw with the MORE and Safe Banking Acts, it didn t have any chance of being put on the agenda in the Senate, because of the previous leadership. That s very deflating, and it s a hard road when Senate Majority Leader [Mitch] McConnell wouldn t let legislation coming from the House gain movement in the Senate. Now that you have Democrats controlling the Senate, even though it s a razor-thin margin, they control the chairs of committees. Senator Mike Crapo from Idaho, a Senate committee chair, was not friendly to cannabis, and that hurt the Safe Banking Act, because we couldn t get it moving at all. Then the time ran out that year.
Nicholas Kamm/Pool via AP
A week to the day after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump on Wednesday became the first president in American history to be impeached twice.
Other than that historical fact, Nancy Pelosi’s vendetta-driven second impeachment charade of President Trump was virtually DOA the moment the final vote was cast.
As reported late Wednesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has rejected a plan to reconvene the Senate in an emergency session to hold a trial over the House’s impeachment article, despite earlier incorrect reports by some that McConnell saw impeachment as an opportunity to “purge” Trump from the Republican Party.