On January 6, 2021, a crowd breached the U.S. Capitol while Congress met to count electoral votes. The attack forced the suspension of the joint session and the evacuation or sheltering of lawmakers. The House moved rapidly to consider impeachment of President Donald Trump.
On January 13, the House approved a single article alleging incitement of insurrection. The article cited Trump’s conduct and statements in the period leading up to the attack, including his repeated claims about the election. Trump denied responsibility for the violence.
The article was a constitutional charge adopted by the House, not a criminal verdict. The Senate held a trial after Trump had left office and ultimately acquitted him. The separate January 6 Historical Record collection covers the attack and its wider aftermath.
The attack interrupted Congress's joint session, and the House's second impeachment followed one week later. The sequence matters when assessing the article's framing.
The House impeached Trump on January 13, 2021, after the Capitol attack and before the end of his term. Its single article alleged incitement of insurrection. The charge was constitutional and political in nature; it should not be confused with a criminal conviction for incitement or insurrection. House managers relied on Trump's public statements, the chronology of January 6 and his efforts to challenge the certified election result.
The second impeachment unfolded on an unusually compressed timeline. The attack on the Capitol occurred while Congress was counting electoral votes, and the House acted before Trump's term ended. That urgency shaped both the article's language and the debate about whether immediate accountability was possible.
The House framed the case around incitement of insurrection, drawing on Trump's conduct before and during January 6. Opponents disputed the characterization and challenged the process. The resulting impeachment was distinct from the later Senate trial, which took place after Trump had left office.