Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat who served as a House impeachment manager during former President Trump’s second impeachment process, will leave Congress to be the CEO of a foundation, he announced Tuesday.
Cicilline, 61, will leave Congress on June 1, a year and a half before his seventh two-year term is up, to be president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation. Cicilline was the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, before joining Congress in 2011.
Cicilline’s departure will prompt a special election.
“For more than a decade, the people of Rhode Island entrusted me with a sacred duty to represent them in Congress, and it is a responsibility I put my heart and soul into every day to make life better for the residents and families of our state,” Cicilline said. “The chance to lead the Rhode Island Foundation was unexpected, but it is an extraordinary opportunity to have an even more direct and meaningful impact on the lives of residents of our state. The same energy and commitment I brought to elected office, I will now bring as CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, advancing their mission to ensure all Rhode Islanders can achieve economic security, access quality, affordable healthcare, and attain the education and training that will set them on a path to prosperity.”
A member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Judiciary Committee, Cicilline was an impeachment manager for the second Trump impeachment over the former president’s actions leading up to and during the Capitol assault of Jan. 6, 2021.
“From the very beginning, the people around Donald Trump wanted him to take command,” Cicilline said during the Democrats’ February 2021 presentation. But Trump did “nothing” to protect the lawmakers trapped in the Capitol. “They were listening to him. He could have demanded them to leave. But he didn’t.”
The managers showed videos and radio communications after hours of presentations by members of the impeachment team, who built a case alleging Trump deliberately stoked supporters to resort to violence not just on the day of the attack, but leading up to it. The House impeached the former president, but the Senate failed to attract enough votes to convict him. Seven Republican senators voted to convict.
–Scott MacFarlane contributed to this report.
