called White House attorney Pat Cipollone<\/a> and warned that Republicans would remove Trump from office using the 25th Amendment if he didn\u2019t call off the mob.<\/p>\nHigh-ranking Democrats wanted to act quickly on the opportunity. The first member of Congress to begin drafting an article of impeachment was Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., who scribbled it on scratch paper while locked down in the Rayburn House Office Building, according to the book, which comes out October 18.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif. \u2014 who had been forced to evacuate because of his office\u2019s proximity to pipe bombs that had been discovered \u2014 joined Cicilline in Rayburn, and the two worked on the impeachment article together. They lobbied other members of the House Judiciary Committee, with Lieu texting\u00a0them that they \u201cshould start drafting articles of impeachment now, regardless of what leadership says.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cicilline reached out to Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Joe Neguse of Colorado. Raskin recommended going for the 25th Amendment and if that didn\u2019t work, impeachment. Cicilline and Lieu worked on a 25th Amendment letter to Vice President Mike Pence but kept pushing on impeachment.<\/p>\n
They then reached out to Judiciary Committee counsel Aaron Hiller for help fine-tuning the impeachment draft. Hiller called his boss, Jerry Nadler chief of staff Amy Rutkin, and told her, \u201cI\u2019m about to do something that\u2019s completely unauthorized by leadership. Should I tell you, or not?\u201d<\/p>\n
He told her. \u201cDo it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo find 200 co-sponsors right now to get it done,\u201d Hiller told Cicilline. \u201cDon\u2019t wait for a blessing from leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n