Get Trump out within 24 hours, Pence told
... and as clip emerges of attack on cop, FBI warns of more clashes
DEMOCRATS will today give US vice-president Mike Pence 24 hours to remove Donald Trump from office or they will impeach him.
As the FBI warned that armed Trump supporters were planning more chaos, senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi said Mr Pence had to ‘get rid of’ the President.
The move came after a violent mob, egged on by Mr Trump’s speech outside the White House and his social media posts, stormed the US Capitol last week. The carnage left five dead, including a police officer.
Democrats acted amid growing outrage as shocking new footage showed last week’s mob, many of whom claimed to be ‘patriots’, hauling a police officer to the floor and beating him with a baton and an American flag while singing The Star-Spangled Banner.
Mrs Pelosi called Mr Trump ‘deranged, unhinged and dangerous’ amid fears his supporters could spark more trouble as
‘Deranged and unhinged’
the Democrats try to force him out, either under the 25th Amendment or through impeachment.
The FBI last night said it had intelligence that pro-Trump groups were planning protests at all 50 state capital buildings from Saturday. According to a leaked memo obtained by ABC News, the agency had ‘ received information about an identified armed group intending to travel to Washington’.
It states: ‘ They have warned that if Congress attempts to remove (the President) via the 25th Amendment a huge uprising will occur.’
One group being monitored is calling for the ‘storming of state, local and federal courthouses and administrative buildings’ if Mr Trump is removed before inauguration day (January 20).
Before impeaching the President on a charge of ‘inciting insurrection’, the Democrats yesterday tried first to put pressure on Republicans to tell him it was time to go, with just one week of his presidency left.
In the House of Representatives, a resolution was put forward calling on Mr Pence ‘to declare what is obvious to a horrified nation: that the President is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office’.
But the call for Mr Trump’s cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, under which a leader can be removed, was immediately blocked by Republicans. That means it will come back to the House floor for a full vote today, and it is expected to pass as the Democrats hold a 221-211 majority. At that point, the clock will start ticking for Mr Pence and if he fails to act, the House will hold a vote on impeachment, likely tomorrow.
Mrs Pelosi said: ‘The Republicans rejected this legislation to protect America, enabling the President’s unhinged, unstable and deranged acts of sedition to continue. On Wednesday, the President
incited a deadly insurrection against America that targeted the very heart of our democracy. The President represents an imminent threat to our constitution, our country and the American people.’
NBC News said Mr Trump had ‘no plans’ to resign and that behind the scenes he continued to claim that he won November’s presidential election. In another blow to the
President yesterday, the Professional Golf Association voted to take the PGA Championship event away from his New Jersey golf course next year. His Turnberry course in Scotland will also not stage The Open until tournament organisers are ‘convinced that the focus will be on the championship’ and not the course’s owner.