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Donald Trump may be impeached TODAY as 5 GOP lawmakers announce they will join Democrats in House vote

Overall, this is a largely symbolic move, considering the Senate trial is unlikely to be completed before his term ends on January 20

President Donald J. Trump could be impeached today by the House of Representatives, making him the first US President to have faced impeachment twice. House Democrats rushed to move to impeach Trump for the second time after blaming him for inciting a riot that broke out at the Capitol last week, The Sun reported. While the move is certainly backed by Democrats, there is an increasing number of Republicans who appear to be extending their support, including Rep. Liz Cheney, the third most senior Republican in the House of Representatives.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has named nine members of Congress to serve as House managers during the second impeachment of Trump: Jamie Raskin, Diana DeGette, David Cicilline, Joaquin Castro, Eric Swalwell, Ted Lieu, Stacey Plaskett, Joe Neguse and Madeleine Dean.

It's worth noting that albeit today's vote is almost certain to pass the Democrat-controlled House, it doesn't mean Trump would actually be removed from office. Just like the last time, the House resolution would trigger a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate, where two-thirds of Senators would have to deem Trump guilty and vote him out of office. Overall, this is a largely symbolic move, considering the Senate trial is unlikely to be completed before his term ends on January 20.

Nonetheless, Trump stands little chance of being convicted by a Republican-controlled Senate. However, that is no longer certain after his recent falling out with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over the Capitol siege.

In the event that Trump is impeached by the Senate, Congress does wield the power to bar him from ever running as a candidate again. This would end Trump's chances of winning the presidency back in 2024.

That said, at least five GOP lawmakers have backed the move to impeach the POTUS.

John Katko (R-NY) became the first in the House to publicly support the move and said in a statement that “to allow the president of the United States to incite this attack without consequence is a direct threat to the future of our democracy. For that reason, I cannot sit by without taking action. I will vote to impeach this president.” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who has been a vocal critic of the president, also joined him.

Meanwhile, House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) said Tuesday she will vote to impeach President Trump. "[The president] summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack," she said in a statement. “Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the president. I will vote to impeach the president.”

Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan was the fourth House Republican to support impeachment. And Rep. Herrera Beutler (R-WA) is the fifth and latest GOP Rep. to support ousting the President before his term ends on January 20.

Trump has claimed impeachment discussions are causing "tremendous anger" among his supporters but insisted that he wanted "no violence." "We want absolutely no violence," he told reporters at the White House yesterday. "On the impeachment, it's really a continuation of the greatest witch-hunt in the history of politics, it's ridiculous - it's absolutely ridiculous. The impeachment is causing tremendous anger... and it's really a terrible thing that they're doing." However, the former real estate mogul maintained that a speech he gave to supporters during last week's violent siege was "totally appropriate."

"They've analyzed my speech in my words and my final paragraph, my final sentence, and everybody to the tee just thought it was totally appropriate," he asserted.