Dartmouth Alums in House Vote on Trump Impeachment

On January 13, alumni in the House of Representatives made history as they voted on then President Donald Trump’s second impeachment. A majority, composed of the 222 House Democrats and 10 Republicans, voted to impeach while a minority of 197 Republicans voted against the measure.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) led the charge to impeach and remove President Trump in the wake of the deadly Capitol attack on January 6, introducing an article of impeachment entitled “Incitement of Insurrection” on January 11. 

The resolution accused Trump of inciting a mob of supporters to march on the Capitol with his Stop the Steal rally on the National Mall. The rally occurred while a joint session of Congress certified the Electoral College votes granting former Vice President Joe Biden the presidency.

Democrat leadership rallied behind the impeachment effort and scheduled a vote on the resolution without debate, to the ire of many House Republicans. Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) ‘93 attracted both scorn and admiration for his objection to the expedited process.

“It is wrong to have sent members of Congress home and then try to adopt without any debate a precedent-setting resolution that could imperil our Republic,” the former rugby player and Sigma Phi Epsilon brother said. “The U.S. House must never adopt a resolution that demands the removal of a duly elected president, without any hearings, debate or recorded votes.”

Despite his objection, the process proceeded smoothly, and the House impeached Trump for a record-breaking second time. Alumni members of the House voted as follows:

Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.) ‘78

The College’s own Congresswoman hinted at her intent to vote “yes” less than a day after the Capitol attack. In a January 7 statement, Kuster called for immediate removal of Trump under the 25th Amendment. 

“This man demonstrates a clear inability to discharge the duties of his office and he should be removed immediately,” the member of Dartmouth’s third co-ed class said. “I hope that Vice President Pence and members of the President’s cabinet will find the courage to do right by our nation and invoke the 25th Amendment”

Six days later, she voted by proxy to impeach the President. Calling his actions on January 6 a “dereliction of duty,” she urged the Senate to convict him. “It’s our duty to remove him from office and ensure that he is disqualified from holding office in the future,” she said.

Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) ‘93

The sole Dartmouth-educated Republican in the House, Rep. Mooney joined the vast majority of his caucus in voting against impeachment.

Arguing that the First Amendment protected President Trump’s speech, Mooney excoriated the article of impeachment as a sham.

“President Trump specifically called upon the attendees to ‘peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,’” he said in a statement. “Today’s vote to impeach the President lacks constitutional merit and only adds to further anger and division in America.”

Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) Thayer ‘98

Rep. Casten served as one of the earliest co-sponsors to Rep. Raskin’s resolution, calling for both impeachment and 25th Amendment removal on January 7. 

“Donald Trump presents a grave threat to the continuity of our government, and our democracy,” he declared, “He must be removed from office immediately, and I am calling on the House to impeach, and for Vice President Pence, in parallel to initiate removal via the 25th Amendment.”

Casten voted to impeach Trump on January 13 and went further than some of his Democratic colleagues by suggesting that Trump should face criminal charges for his “incitement.”

“Many will argue that letting the clock run out on this administration will do more to heal our country than impeachment,” he remarked, “This could not be further from the truth.”

“We are a nation of laws, and the President must be held to account for his crimes, immediately removed from office, and banned from holding federal office again.”

All Eyes on the Senate

Although plans to remove President Trump from office before the transition to the Biden administration failed, some Democrats and Republicans still hold out hope that the Senate could convict the now former president and disqualify him from holding federal office again.

After the House transmitted the article of impeachment to the Senate on January 25, alumni in the upper house have indicated little about how they plan to vote. 

On January 26, President Pro Tempore of the Senate Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) swore in his colleagues as jurors for the Senate trial.

Several Republican alumni have aired concerns about the constitutionality of trying a former president. 

“I will listen as a juror, but as I have said, I do have questions about the constitutionality of holding a Senate trial and removing from office someone who is now a private citizen,” Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) ‘78 said.

Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D.) ‘79 expressed similar reservations. “I do not believe it is constitutional to impeach a president who is no longer in office and in fact the chief justice won’t be presiding,” he said.

“As the trial moves forward, I will listen to the evidence presented by both sides and then make a judgment based on the Constitution and what I believe is in the best interests of the country.”

Oral arguments in the Senate trial are expected to begin on February 9, after House impeachment managers submit a rebuttal to the former President’s pretrial brief.