Shafaq News/ President-elect Joe Biden urged the Senate to conduct the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump while simultaneously working on other critical issues, indicating a desire to settle the proceedings against Trump that is likely to remain unresolved when Biden takes office.
While he said in a statement that the House's vote "to impeach and hold the president accountable" was "a bipartisan vote cast by members who followed the Constitution and their conscience," Biden wants to hit the ground running on a broad spectrum of economic and public health initiatives when he takes office next week. He said the Senate needs to be able to follow through on Trump's impeachment trial while working on his agenda.
"This nation also remains in the grip of a deadly virus and a reeling economy," Biden continued. "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."
The House voted 232 to 197 on Wednesday to impeach Trump, with 10 GOP lawmakers joining all Democrats to impeach Trump for "incitement of insurrection" exactly one week after rioters stormed the US Capitol as the House certified Biden's election victory. Marking the first time a president has been impeached twice, the process now advances to the Senate, which will conduct a trial.
For his part, in the day he was impeached for a history-making second time, President Donald Trump delivered a call for calm as the threat of new riots -- which Trump said he'd been briefed on by the Secret Service -- casts a pall over Washington. That briefing took place on Monday and played a role in the President's decision to record the video, an official told CNN.
"No true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence. No true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement or our great American flag," he said from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
"Now I am asking everyone who has ever believed in our agenda to be thinking of ways to ease tensions, calm tempers and help to promote peace in our country," he said.
At the end of the spot, which was recorded by the White House and not independent television cameras, Trump decried what he called the "unprecedented assault on free speech we have seen in recent days."
"Efforts to censor, cancel and blacklist our fellow citizens are wrong and they are dangerous," he said. "What is needed now is for us to listen to one another, not to silence one another."
Trump issued a statement through the White House in the afternoon that insisted "there must be NO violence, NO law-breaking and NO vandalism of any kind."
