Garamendi joins calls for ousting Trump
U. S. Rep. John Garamendi, D- Walnut Grove, joined a growing list of lawmakers calling upon members of President Trump’s cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and for Congress to pursue articles of impeachment.
Garamendi, who represents Yolo and Solano counties, announced his actions Thursday through Twitter.
The calls come a day after a mob stormed the U. S. Capitol to halt the Electoral College vote count following Trump’s baseless claims that the election was stolen due to widespread voter fraud. The mob’s riotous actions resulted in multiple injuries and at least one death, and it prompted an evacuation of the Capitol.
When the Electoral College count resumed, Joe Biden was certified as the victor, despite challenges over the vote counts in certain states that Trump won in 2016 but Biden won in 2020. The objections failed due to not having a senator to sign onto them or were widely voted down in both the House and Senate.
Garamendi says that Trump had committed two imp e a chable offenses. One was pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to change the vote count in his state, which Biden won, by asking him in a phone call released by the Washington Post to “find 11,780 votes.” The other was inciting the mob to storm the Capitol “in an attempt to obstruct the Presidential election process,” Garamendi wrote on Twitter.
“These events are a dark stain on our nation’s history,” he wrote. “We must act quickly to protect the future of our democracy.”
Garamendi joins other lawmakers, including top Democratic officials like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in calling on Trump’s cabinet to invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment. If a president is declared by other executive officials to be unable to do his job, they may invoke this provision by signing and delivering a letter to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the House Speaker. However, it must also be approved by the vice president, who would be named the acting president. This section has never been used.
In 2019, Trump became the third president in history to become impeached, on charges that he abused his power by trying to coerce Ukraine to investigate Biden and that he obstructed Congress by trying to block testimony and withhold documents. Trump was later acquitted by the Republicancontrolled Senate.
Trump’s term is set to expire on Jan. 20, at which point Biden will be sworn in.