Rep. Cori Bush seeks expulsion of House Republicans who incited violence. She also wants Trump impeached — again (2024)

By Nassim BenchaabaneSt. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS— As a mob broke into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in an unprecedented, desperate attempt to challenge President Donald Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden, Rep. Cori Bush called for the expulsion of House Republicans who publicly sought to discredit the results of the Nov. 3 election. Among those Republicans: U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, who Bush said has“blood on his hands.”

The St. Louis Democrat published a draft resolution calling on the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether the Republican lawmakers violated their oath to uphold the U.S. House Constitution by publicly objecting to a routine certification of electoral votes.

Bush, who was among lawmakers forced to evacuate to safety, also called for an immediate, second impeachment of Trump, whose term ends at noon on Jan. 20. A freshman lawmaker, Bush is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, the government chamber’s investigative arm that has the ability toassess potential articles of impeachment.

“I hope to see that happen,” Bush told National Public Radio on Wednesday afternoon, “And he deserves jail. He deserves to go to jail for what he’s doing.... He incited what happened today.”

The storming of the Capitol followed months of repeated false claims of election fraud by Trump, and public statements by Republican lawmakers,including Hawley, that they planned to object to votes of several states that voted for Biden.

More than 140 Republicans in the House also said they would object to the certification of the Electoral College vote. Among those who did object Wednesday were five of Missouri’s six Republican U.S.representatives: Billy Long, Vicky Hartzler, Sam Graves, Jason Smith and Blaine Luetkemeyer.

The Republicans’ spurious claims, Bush said, had incited a “domestic terror attack.”

“Ibelieve the Republican members of Congress who have incited this domestic terror attack through their attempts to overturn the election must face consequences,”Bush said in a tweet. “They have broken their sacred Oath of Office.”

“I will be introducing a resolution calling for their expulsion.”

She later directly criticized Hawley. In a tweet, she said, “Josh Hawley said he was doing this for the people of Missouri. Let me tell you something, Josh. You are supposed to represent St. Louis too, but you do not speak for us. You have blood on your hands, and that’s why I’m calling for your removal from Congress.”

Bush published a draft form of the resolution in a tweet about 3 p.m. Wednesday, as U.S. lawmakers, staff and Capitol press were forced to flee government buildings or seek shelter from Trump supporters damaging property and fighting with law enforcement.

The resolution would be among Bush’s first actions after she was sworn into office Sunday, becoming the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress.

Bush, 44, won election in November after unseating ten-term incumbent William Lacy Clay in the August Democratic primary. Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, which includes St. Louis and north St. Louis County, is overwhelmingly Democratic.

Bush, whose political campaign grew out of her activism in Ferguson protesting the police killing of Mike Brown, said police had responded more forcefully to the Ferguson unrest than they did as a mob broke into the Capitol and threatened lawmakers.

“My team and I are safe. I am in disbelief. I can’t believe domestic terrorists are roaming around inside the Capitol,” Bush said in a tweet Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m remembering being brutalized and treated like a domestic terrorist just for protesting to keep my people alive.”

Speaking to MSNBC, Bush said that Capitol police “allowed” the mob to storm the complex, despite lawmakers being informed in advance of planned protests on Wednesday.

“We get this pushback and this brutality from police and then today we have people who actually stormed the U.S. Capitol….people who put our lives in danger….and they allowed it," Bush said.

“We weren’t protected.”

Updated at 8:26 a.m. Thursday, noting her criticism of U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.

Cori Bush was sworn in just days ago