Republican U.S. Rep. John Katko of New York said Tuesday that he planned to support a renewed effort to impeach President Donald Trump in light of last week's chaos at the Capitol.
Katko, a former federal prosecutor whose congressional district includes Syracuse, NY, said it was his duty under the Constitution to hold the president accountable for his part in the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday.
"It cannot be ignored that President Trump encouraged this insurrection, both on social media ahead of January 6th, and in his speech that day," Katko said in a statement.
He added that Trump's repeated and baseless claims that the election had been stolen contributed to "a combustible environment of misinformation, disenfranchisement and division."
Katko was among hundreds of members of Congress who spent hours in lockdown last week as rioters ran amok in the Capitol, interrupting Congress's usually routine work of certifying the Electoral College results.
"To allow the president of the United States to incite this attack without consequence is a direct threat to the future of our democracy," he continued. "For that reason, I cannot sit by without taking action."
Other House republicans who said Tuesday that they support the impeachment include U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
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