Calls for removal intensify N.Y. Democrats urge use of 25th Amendment or impeachment to oust Trump immediately
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined a growing chorus of Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Paul Tonko and Antonio Delgado, calling for the immediate removal of President Donald J. Trump from office after his supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol, encouraged by the president himself.
“This president should not hold office one day longer,” Schumer, D -N.Y., said Thursday.
“The quickest and most effective way — it can be done today — to remove this president from office would be for the vice president to immediately invoke the
25th amendment. If the vice president and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president.”
Pelosi, D -Calif., said Thursday the overwhelming sentiment in her chamber was that the House should impeach Trump again if his cabinet does not remove him.
Trump only has two weeks left in his term, before President-elect Joe Biden is scheduled to be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
It would be difficult for Congress to complete an impeachment proceeding in the House and trial in the Senate in that time frame.
Use of the the 25th amendment of the U.S. Constitution is at the discretion of Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s cabinet.
The amendment would allow them to remove Trump from office if they decide he is unable to complete his duties. Pence would complete Trump’s term.
On Wednesday, Trump rallied supporters at the National Mall and encouraged them to march on the Capitol to show their displeasure with the election.
Later, he continued false claims that the election was stolen from him and called Pence a “traitor” for refusing to stop the election certification.
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, RMiss., said in a Times Union interview Thursday that Trump’s actions fueled the mob who attacked the Capitol, but removing him from office in the last two weeks of his term would only turn up the heat on a polarized, divided nation.
“I was irate at what I saw. That just cannot happen again,” Lott said. “Trump has to take the blame ... I just can’t believe it.”
But Lott, who presided over the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton, said impeachments were “always harmful and counter-productive.” He thought Pence invoking the 25th was a terrible idea, too.
“We’ve got a chance to turn the page here, let’s do it,” he said. “It just would be more misery and more angst and more everything. We’re dealing with enough of that right now.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand also called for any method to be used to remove Trump, whether the 25th Amendment, impeachment or “criminal prosecution.”
“These options will require the vice president, cabinet members, and Republican members of the Senate to hold the president accountable in a way they never have before. If they fail to do so, history will rightfully judge them as complicit,” she said.
Seventeen Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Pence Wednesday urging him to invoke the 25th and begin the process of removing him from office.
Other House Democrats have already said they are drawing up new articles of impeachment. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker also backed impeachment on Wednesday.
Delgado, D -Rhinebeck, who was one of the last Democrats to announce he would vote in favor of articles of impeachment in 2019, said Thursday he supported removing the president through his cabinet or “this Congress” with a “heavy heart.”
“President Trump gave a speech to his supporters in front of the White House, where he not only spewed baseless claims of election fraud, but also proclaimed to those listening, ‘you’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong.’” Delgado said.
“For the safety of our people, Republic, our laws and our Constitution, Congress must adopt articles of impeachment and remove Donald Trump from office immediately,” Tonko said.
Republican Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said Wednesday Trump should resign or be removed from office by Congress or his cabinet.
Former Republican Rep. John Faso, who represented the 19th District from 2016 to 2018, said: “If he had one shred of respect for his office and the Constitution he should resign. He incited that mob and that would be grounds of removal from office but (it’s) unlikely in the time remaining.”