U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger announces intention to vote for impeachment

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Channahon, said Tuesday he will vote to impeach President Donald J. Trump on the grounds that the president “broke his oath of office” and “incited ... insurrection” when a mob of pro-Trump rioters sieged the U.S. Capitol building Jan. 6.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the President of the United States broke his oath of office and incited this insurrection,” Kinzinger said in a statement.

With his announcement, Kinzinger became the third House Republican to state their support of impeachment proceedings brought against the president.

The House is set to start impeachment proceedings against Trump on Wednesday.

The president faces a single impeachment charge, incitement of insurrection, for his actions surrounding the mob attack on the Capitol, the worst domestic assault on the building in the nation’s history.

Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House Republican, and Republican Rep. John Katko of New York said earlier Tuesday that they would vote to impeach Trump.

Kinzinger last week was the first Republican in Congress to address Trump’s insurrection as an act worthy of invoking the 25th Amendment of the Constitution. The 25th Amendment allows the vice president and a majority of the president’s Cabinet to remove the president from office if “the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” according to the text of the amendment. If that were to happen, Vice President Mike Pence would become president until President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated Jan. 20.

As it became less likely that Pence would invoke the 25th Amendment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, on Sunday announced that representatives would begin the impeachment process, The Associated Press reported.

“Throughout my time in Congress, I’ve sought to do the right thing for the good of the people I represent and for the country as a while,” Kinzinger said. “We are in uncharted waters here and in a moment in history we have not experienced in modern times.”