House Democrats have introduced a resolution to impeach President Donald Trump, charging him with "incitement of insurrection." For Congress, impeachment is typically the last resort against a president after all other avenues have been exhausted, according to Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif. 15th District), but he said as long as President Donald Trump remains in office, the country is at risk.
"The president is a threat to life and he is a threat to our democratic ideals," Swalwell told Cheddar.
Swalwell said that Trump's actions were more dangerous than those of other presidents who faced impeachment. "There have been prior presidents to have been impeached, or have come close to impeachment, but no one has ever endangered so many lives. And this president still has access to the nuclear codes."
The resolution comes after the House Democrats' attempt to urge Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment was blocked by their GOP counterparts, some of whom are now calling for unification following last week's attack.
"I'm not going to be bullied by those who were accomplices to the attack on the Capitol. Those who are calling for unity and healing were the same ones who foolishly and falsely lead thousands to believe that they could overturn a peaceful election," Swalwell said. "Republicans and Democrats want to unite, but we have to separate ourselves from those who are responsible."
When it comes to those lawmakers who backed Trump's false claims that the November election was stolen, Swalwell stated that they have to be held responsible for their roles in the Capitol attack, even if that means expulsion from the body.
While House Majority Whip James Clyburn suggested that the House could delay sending impeachment articles to the Senate until after President-elect Joe Biden's first 100 days in office are complete, Swalwell noted that the body is capable of handling several issues at once and that letting this incident slide under the radar could set a negative precedent.
"The second we allow people to enable and inspire and radicalize others to take arms against the United States, that is the second we either go back in time to 1860 or we look like countries who we do not want to look like," he said.
Stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, but two indexes - the Dow and the S&P 500 - ended the session with a new record. Akshata Bailkeri, Equity Analyst at Bruderman Asset Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she says there is a consensus for robust consumer spreading in 2022, especially as the Omicron variant is proving to be milder than other COVID-19 strains.
John Quelch, Dean of Miami Herbert Business School, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the retail giant is acting in accordance to President Biden's new law banning goods from China's Xinjiang region. Quelch also elaborates on the importance of China in Walmart's overall strategy.
Cheddar's Chloe Aiello has our cannabis year-in-review, breaking down how several states legalized adult recreational use and greenlit medicinal use in 2021. She noted that while a cannabis legalization and decriminalization bill was introduced in Congress this year, potential FDA involvement in the industry, as well as a 25 percent excise tax, killed any chance the bill had of moving forward. Aiello also speculated that some form of cannabis reform could be rolled out in 2022, as the midterm elections draw closer.
Jim Worden, Chief Investment Officer at Wealth Consulting Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the period between Christmas and New Year's is difficult to predict due to a lack of institutional volume, with the Omicron variant adding even more uncertainty on Wall Street.
Prices at the pump this year reached a seven-year high, and a new forecast from GasBuddy shared with CNN predicts that gas prices will only continue to rise in 2022 and that the national average could even reach $4.00 a gallon; however, analysts at GasBuddy say anything could happen when it comes to gas prices in the future, as the pandemic has made it difficult to make any predictions about the economy. Consumer Energy Alliance federal policy advisor Michael Zehr joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
