사진 / NPR

민주당 하원에서 11일(월) 도널드 트럼프 대통령의 ‘반란 선동’에 대한 책임을 주장하며 탄핵소추 결의안을 발의하며 탄핵절차에 착수했다.

민주당이 공개한 탄핵 결의안에는 지난 6일 트럼프 지지자들의 의회 공격사태와 관련해 트럼프 대통령이 반란을 선동했다는 혐의가 적시됐고 의회가 공격하기 직전 트럼프 태통령이 시위대들의 의회 공격을 권장했다고 적었다.

또 “이는 미국 대통령으로서 대통령직을 충실히 수행하고 최선을 다해 미국의 헌법을 보존, 보호 및 수호하겠다는 헌법 서약을 위반했다.  민주주의 체제를 위협하고 평화로운 권력전환을 방해했으며 정부기관을 위태롭게 했다. 이 때문에 대통령으로서 국민의 신뢰를 배반해 국민들에게 부상을 입혔다”며 “국가안보와 민주주의, 헌법수호에 위협이 된다. 따라서 미국의 명예와 위상을 지켜내기 위해 직위해제 해야 한다”고 적시했다.

결의안에는 폭력선동이라는 중범죄외에도 조지아 국무장관인 브래드 라펜스퍼거에게 전화해 선거결과를 뒤집을 수 있는 표를 찾도록 협박에 가까운 요구를 한 것도 탄핵의 이유라고 주장했다.

민주당은 “마이크 펜스 부통령이 대통령의 직무박탈을 위한 절차에 돌입하라”고 촉구하며 펜스 부통령이 수정헌법 25조를 발동해 주어진 시간내 절차에 임하지 않으면 탄핵 결의안을 통과시키겠다고 말했다.

그러나 펜스 부통령은 부정적인 입장으로 민주당이 정한 시한내에 수정헌법 25조가 발동되기 쉽지 않을 것이라고 NPR은 보도했다. 민주당의 압박은 거욱 거세다. 민주당의 낸시 펠로시 하원의장은 펜스 부통령이 수정헌법 25조를 발동하지 않을 경우 ‘발동 결의안’을 하원에서 통과시킬것이며 펜스 부통령은 24시간내 응답해야 한다고 요구했다.

하지만 탄핵안이 하원을 통과한다 해도 상원을 통과하기는 힘들 것이라고 워싱턴 포스트는 분석했다. 민주당이 다수당인 하원과 달리 상원은 공화당이 다수당이다. 또 상원에서 3분의 2 이상이 찬성해야 탄핵소추안이 타결되지만 공화당이 다수인 상원에서 탄핵소추안 통과는 어렵다는 분석이 지배적이다.

ARTICLE 1: INCITEMENT OF INSURRECTION

The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment” and that the President “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment, for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Further, section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits any person who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against” the United States from “hold[ing] and office … under the United States.’ In his conduct while President of the United States — and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, provide, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed — Donald John Trump engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States, in that:

On January 6, 2021, pursuant to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the House of Representatives, and the Senate met at the United States Capitol for a Joint Session of Congress to count the votes of the Electoral College. In the months preceding the Joint Session, President Trump repeatedly issued false statements asserting that the Presidential election results were the product of widespread fraud and should not be accepted by the American people or certified by State or Federal officials. Shortly before the Joint Session commenced, President Trump, addressed a crowd at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. There, he reiterated false claims that “we won this election, and we won it by a landslide.” He also willfully made statements that, in context, encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — lawless action at the Capitol, such as: “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Thus incited by President Trump, members of the crowd he had addressed, in an attempt to, among other objectives, interfere with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential election, unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and Congressional personnel, and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive and seditious acts.

President Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021, followed his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 Presidential election. Those prior efforts included a phone call on January 2, 2021, during which President Trump urged the secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to overturn the Georgia Presidential election results and threatened Secretary Raffensperger if he failed to do so.

In all this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.

Wherefore, Donald John Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. Donald John Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.

안미향 기자

Texasn.com