A Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a resolution on Thursday permanently banning President Donald Trump from entering the U.S. Capitol Complex after he leaves office.
The legislation comes on the heels of the 45th president’s historic second impeachment after thousands of his supporters formed a violent insurrectionist force which attempted to lay waste to the national seat of government and stop the counting of electoral college votes on January 6. Property damage and theft occurred, and five people died as a result of the pro-Trump mob.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
Directing the Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives, the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate, and the United States Capitol Police to prohibit President Donald John Trump from entering the United States Capitol at any time after the expiration of his term as President.
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), SECTION 1. Prohibiting President Trump from entering United States Capitol.
The Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives, the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate, and the United States Capitol Police shall take such actions as may be necessary to prohibit President Donald John Trump from entering the United States Capitol at any time after the expiration of his term as President.
Trump has been widely blamed for the actions of his supporters, many of whom have since been charged with a litany of federal and District crimes for last Wednesday’s siege of the U.S. Capitol. The House’s second impeachment of Trump specifically credits him with the ensuing violence and chaos following a “Stop the Steal” rally capped off by the president himself.
The theme of that event, which largely occurred prior to the Capitol being breached, was that President-elect Joe Biden was illegitimately elected that the pro-MAGA set should do all they could to keep the former Apprentice star in office. All 222 Democrats and 10 congressional Republicans voted for the impeachment measure.
The Thursday bill goes one step further and would direct the U.S. Capitol Police to prohibit Trump–once he is out of office–from ever stepping foot on the Capitol grounds. The bill was initially introduced via the House Administration Committee and quickly made its way to the full House. A vote on the proposal is not scheduled as of yet.
The bill’s author is Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.), the freshman congresswoman who recently replaced Civil Rights icon John Lewis in the lower chamber. The chair of the Georgia Democratic Party, Williams is considered to have helped deliver big political dividends for Peach State Democrats—and the party nationally—after Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff both beat incumbent GOP senators in the high-profile and high-stakes runoff elections there in early January.
Williams also recently came out in support of an effort to replace a Confederate statute in the nation’s capital with a statute of Lewis.
Congressman John Lewis represents the best of us. Now more than ever, we need a daily reminder of his legacy as we continue to fight to reach the “Beloved Community” he envisioned. https://t.co/ElfnSnpVk7
— Nikema Williams (@NikemaWilliams) January 14, 2021
[image via Saul Loeb/ AFP/Getty Images]
Editor’s note: this report has been updated to correct a factual error. It originally stated 20 House Republicans voted to impeach Trump. It was 10.
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