Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said the attack on the U.S. Capitol early this month was a betrayal of the American people and that trying outgoing President Donald Trump for inciting the rampage is necessary to uphold democracy in the eyes of Americans and the world. 

“It's not just those of us who were there in the Capitol at the time, it is the American public, who watched what happened, who feel that their symbol of democracy, their Capitol, they feel betrayed by that,” Cortez Masto said on a call with reporters Tuesday ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

“And so it is important for us to go through this process, not just to hold those accountable, including the president and everyone else who may have engaged in this process, but we have to for the American public, but also for our allies, for adversaries to see who we are as a country, and that we value and our democratic process.”

Cortez Masto said that she expects the impeachment article, charging incitement of insurrection, to be sent to the Senate and triggering the trial “within the next couple of days.” 

The House voted to impeach Trump on Jan. 13, the first time any president has been impeached more than once. The House previously impeached Trump in Dec. 2019, but the Senate acquitted him in February.

The impeachment vote came a week after Trump rallied a crowd of supporters during a speech near the White House to march to the Capitol and “cheer” Republicans who had announced that they would object to certifying the 2020 election results in up to seven states, including Nevada. Months before the election, Trump, with no evidence, sought to cast doubt that the election would be fair and free of fraud should he lose.

The crowd made its way to the Capitol, where some violently forced their way in, spurring lawmakers to suspend proceedings and take cover. Five people died.

Cortez Masto had strong words for Trump when asked if she believes he committed an impeachable offense but held off on saying whether she thought he was guilty. She added that she would review the facts as presented. 

“Donald Trump's efforts to stop a peaceful transfer of power after a free and fair election, not only was it wrong, it was dangerous and undemocratic,” Cortez Masto said. 

She noted that one difference between the last trial (she voted guilty) is that the senators are “all witnesses and victims to” the Jan. 6 riot.  

Seventeen Republicans will be needed to vote to convict Trump if all 50 Democrats, once the new senators from Georgia and California are seated, to sanction the president. 

Cortez Masto said she was unsure if there would be enough Republicans to convict. Her comments came as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in a speech Tuesday that the president spurred the riot.

“This mob was fed lies,” he said on his last day as Senate majority leader. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.”

Cortez Masto also said she believes that there is precedent to try an elected official who is no longer in office.

“It is constitutional,” she said, adding that she expects that to come up in the trial.

The precedent comes from the 1876 impeachment of Secretary of War William Belknap. He resigned on March 2, the same day the House was scheduled to vote on his impeachment, to avoid the charges. But he was impeached by the House. He was also tried in the Senate after senators voted 37 to 29 that Belknap was “amenable to impeachment” even though he left office. Belknap was not convicted and many of the ‘no’ votes were based on the belief that the Senate had no authority to convict a former officeholder. 

Cortez Masto is planning on attending Biden’s inauguration in person but urged Nevadans to participate virtually. Cortez Masto did not say if she would bring a guest. Rep. Steven Horsford is also attending with his wife and Rep. Dina Titus said she, too, would attend with a member of her staff.

Nevada’s only GOP congressman, Rep. Mark Amodei, will not be in attendance. He will be working from his district, his office said.