San Antonio Reps. Castro and Cuellar playing key roles in effort to remove Trump from office
- Screen Capture / C-SPAN
- U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro
Two members of San Antonio’s congressional delegation are playing roles in the bid to remove President Donald Trump over last week’s deadly Capitol attack.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, was selected to serve among the U.S. House managers of Trump’s pending impeachment. In that role, he’ll serve on the team of prosecutors that will make the case for the president’s removal by a vote in the U.S. Senate.
Additionally, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat whose district includes San Antonio, served as presiding officer over Tuesday’s historic 223-205 vote calling on Vice President Mike Pence to remove Trump from office via the 25th Amendment.
Texas’ congressional delegation voted along party lines on the measure, with all Democrats who cast ballots supporting it and all GOP members who voted standing in opposition. In a letter, Pence said he wouldn’t invoke the 25th Amendment, and that sets the stage for the Democrat-controlled house to vote on impeachment Wednesday.
“For the first time in our nation’s history, the transfer of power has not been peaceful,” Castro said in a statement. “The president of the United States, in an unconscionable act of insurrection, incited a violent mob of his supporters to terrorize the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn a free and fair election.”
In a statement released late Tuesday, Cuellar said a decision by Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment would “protect our country” and help it “move beyond partisanship.”
“Clearly, our current president is unable to adhere to the oath of office, which calls for him to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,'” Cuellar said.
The House is expected to easily secure the majority vote needed to impeach Trump for a second time. All Democrats and at least a few Republicans are expected to support the effort.
Trump’s final removal from office would require a two-thirds vote from the U.S. Senate following a trial to convict the president.
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