'History Will Not Look Kindly on Us' If Trump Not Impeached, Says Rep. Ilhan Omar

Rep. Ilhan Omar said Sunday that she plans on introducing two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Monday and warned that history would "not look kindly" upon lawmakers if they fail to ensure Trump faces consequences for his role in inciting the extremist mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol last week.

Omar (D-Minn.), a frequent target of Trump's racist rhetoric, released the articles of impeachment Thursday. One article targets Trump's attempt to overturn the results of the November election, which he decisively lost to President-elect Joe Biden, and the second article addresses Trump's abuse of "the powers of the presidency to incite violence and orchestrate an attempted coup against our country"--a reference to the Wednesday siege.

Asked by host Esme Murphy of Minneapolis' "This Morning" on WCCO about any certainty of Democratic leadership scheduling the start of impeachment proceedings, Omar said, "That is our hope."

"Right now we are still in the process of pushing our colleagues to... realize that the actions are deserving of consequences, that if we do not take a decisive, expedient decision on how to deal with these actions, we risk further damage to our democracy, to our republic."

"We are constitutionally mandated to protect and preserve our democracy and our republic," she said, "and this man is clearly exhibiting dangers to it."

As to whether it was worth it to pursue impeachment given that the Republican-controlled Senate is not set to resume its regular session until January 19, the day before President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, Omar said that "there is a greater risk not having consequences for this president and his actions and those in the House and in the Senate that have enabled this insurrection and attempted coup to take place."

"If we do not take action," she continued, "then we are sending a message to the country and to the world that ours is one where democracy can come under siege, our nation's Capitol can be threatened, and we look the other way."

"If we do not do that, then history will not look kindly on us," said Omar.

"There [have] to be actions that are taken in order to avoid this from happening again," Omar added, issuing the same message fellow "squad" member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also gave Sunday morning.

Other lawmakers have called for invoking the 25th Amendment of the Constitution to remove Trump, an option Vice President Mike Pence has reportedly not fully ruled out.