Norton to Introduce Resolution to Censure Trump as the Only Immediate, Viable Remedy
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today called on the House and Senate to pass a resolution censuring President Trump for an attempted coup in trying to overturn the results of the presidential election and incitement of insurrection for the attack on the U.S. Capitol last week. Norton, who has also cosponsored several impeachment resolutions since the attack on the Capitol, said censure is the only remedy that can pass both chambers immediately and, unlike impeachment, will not delay President-elect Biden's agenda in the Senate. Norton will introduce the censure resolution on Monday. Although Congress has never adopted a bicameral resolution censuring a president, Norton says that there has also never been a president who has led an attempted coup in our country, and that both Democrats and Republicans show a thirst for an immediate response.
"President Trump is a clear and present danger to the United States and has committed impeachable offenses," Norton said. "The Vice President and Cabinet should remove him under the 25th Amendment and, if not, Congress should remove him from office and bar him from ever holding federal office again. However, it is clear the 25th Amendment will not be invoked and that the Senate will not convict the president after impeachment. A censure resolution is the only way to send a bipartisan, bicameral message without delay to the country and the world that the United States is a nation of laws."
The Senate is out of regular session until January 19th. It would take unanimous consent for the Senate to return before then. Norton hopes the Senate would reconvene to consider the censure resolution before then, but at the very least, would adopt the censure resolution before Biden is sworn-in on January 20th.
In the case of impeachment, once the House transmits the impeachment resolution to the Senate and after the Senate comes back into session, the Senate must take up the resolution. Whether an impeachment resolution is taken up in the Senate at the beginning of the Biden administration or later, it will delay Senate consideration of Biden's legislative agenda and nominees. In addition, it is an open constitutional question whether a president can be impeached after leaving office.