Marie Newman Votes To Impeach Trump, Worries About More Violence

ILLINOIS — Just three days on the job, Congresswoman Marie Newman (IL-03) was still trying to figure out where the ladies' bathroom was, when on Jan. 6 an angry mob of Trump supporters raided the U.S. Capitol as congressional members were certifying the electoral vote. Newman was in her new office in the Longworth Building waiting to return to the floor to vote for certification, when she watched the Capitol being breached on C-SPAN.

“My staff and I are safe and currently sheltering in place,” she reassured constituents on Facebook. “I urge everyone to stay calm as this situation continues to unfold. I’m praying for the safety of all my colleagues, their staff and for this entire nation.”

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Before the Capitol could be secured, the pro-Trump mob broke windows, ransacked offices and bludgeoned a police officer to death, mere hours after being told by President Donald Trump at a “Save America” rally that the election was a massive fraud.

Newman would later describe for Chicago Magazine the insurrectionists walking through the rotunda as “very rough characters with white supremacist signs and Nazi signs and all kinds of propaganda.”

A week to the day after the attempted sedition, the newly minted congresswoman signaled on Facebook that she would be voting to impeach the president.

“On my third day in Congress, I was forced to shelter on lockdown because the President of the United States encouraged a deadly assault on our Capitol and democracy. Today, on my 10th day in Congress, I’m voting to impeach him.”

Later on Wednesday, Newman delivered her first speech on the House floor in what would be a historic vote to impeach Donald Trump — the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. She took her Republican colleagues to task for not wearing face masks after three of her colleagues tested positive for COVID-19 when sheltering in place on the day of the breach.

“So today I stand with this body to impeach this president. I agree with my Democratic colleagues. I also agree with my Republican colleagues. Let’s unite to address this pandemic and start by simply wearing a mask. Let’s unite to bring back the economy and start by putting $2,000 checks in people’s pockets. And let’s unite to hold these domestic terrorists accountable and impeach this president. Thank-you, Madam Speaker, and I yield back.”

She remains worried about more possible violence at the inauguration on Jan. 20, and making sure that President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are safe when they take the oath of office.

“I have personally let leadership know that we should be detailing the type of protections,” Newman told Chicago Magazine. “We can’t go into detail about the protections because domestic terrorists will show up again. We want them to know, ‘If you try this again, it will not work, so don’t come.’”

Congresswoman Marie Newman will be greeting residents at the Oak Lawn Metra Station, 9525 S. Tulley Ave. at 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14; and 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15, at Beverly Park, 2460 W. 102nd St., Chicago.

This article originally appeared on the Oak Lawn Patch