Sen. Brown calls for Trump’s removal
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on Thursday joined a number of lawmakers calling for PresidentDonaldTrump’s cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment andremove him from offiffice.
Those calling for the unprecedented step of invoking the 25th Amendment include the top Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate. U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus, called for Trump to be removed and impeached. U.S. Rep. TimRyan, D-Niles, said a conversation about removing Trump fromoffiffice needs to happen.
TheyblamedTrumpforfomenting a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday disrupting the count of Electoral College votes by Congress.
“Yesterday was a dark day for our country. Domestic terror
ists attacked our seat of government, at the behest of the president of the United States,” Brownsaidina statement Thursday. “This was his last, desperate attempt to overturnthewill of theAmericanvoters, buthefailed, and democracy won. We must hold the president accountable for inciting this attack on our country.”
“Thecabinetandvicepresident should immediately invoke the 25thAmendment to remove him from offiffice, to prevent him from doing more damage between now and Inauguration Day.”
Southwest Ohio’s all-Republican congressionaldelegation unanimously decried the violence that overtook the Capitol on Wednesday but were mum on laying blame. Some spent Thursday explaining their votes for or against objecting to counting votes fromcertain stateswonby President-elect Joe Biden.
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R- Ohio, issued a statement saying: “Last night the president fifinally acknowledged there will be an orderly transition of power on Jan. 20, something I had called on him to do. Now is the time to bring our polarized country together and ensure an orderly transition of power in 13 days.”
Mark Caleb Smith, director of the center for political studies at Cedarville University, said it’s possible that Congress couldmovequickly toattempttoimpeachTrump a second time.
Invoking the 25thAmendment would be quicker, he said, but unlike impeachment, it wouldn’t carry the penalty ofpreventing Trump from running for the offiffice again.
The 25th Amendment allows Mike Pence and a majority of the president’s cabinet to vote to declare him unfifit for offiffice, Smith said. They would then send a letter to Congress declaring him unfifit for offiffice and making Pence president. Trump would then have an opportunity to protest the decision.
It’s usually thought of when a president is undergoing a health procedure or for health reasons is unable to carry out the duties of president, he said.
“We’ve never seen it used though in anything like a situation like this,” Smith said.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday he opposes that idea.
“Invoking that is something we would not want to see happen because, once again, I think that would stoke the fifires of peoplewho believe there is a conspiracy and it would lessen the faith in our system,” said DeWine, a Republican. “I’m not close to it. I can’tmake that judgment call, but as a matter for the good of the country, that seems to me to be something that would cause more division than healing.”
Area Republicans explain their vote
Area Republicans condemned the violence at the capitol, but stopped short of blaming Trump.
“TheConstitutionprotects peaceful protest, not riots or rioters,” said U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy in a statement Thursday.
Davidson defended his vote toobject tocertifyingthe Electoral College votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania in a joint session of Congress that extended to the early hours of Thursday morning after law enforcement offifficials retook the Capitol building. Some Republican lawmakers reversed plans to challenge the election after the riot.
“I voted withmy district, representing the concerns of Ohio’s 8th District residents,” he said. “I objected to electors fromArizona and Pennsylvania, wherenumerous systemic issues threatenedtoundermine the equal protection principle of ‘one person, one vote.’ ”
Davidson’s vote drew a sharp rebuke from Democrats back home who called for him to resign or be expelled fromCongress.
“By validating this mass delusion of known rightwing agitators, itwas foreseeable that Davidson’s actions would be a green light to (Wednesday’s) occupation andvandalismof Congress,” said Butler County Democratic Party Executive Chairman Brian Hester.
“His need to pointlessly grandstand for a deluded political base has put this country andits commitment to democracy in danger. He should be embarrassed.”
OtherOhiolawmakerswho votedtoobject to theelection resultswere JimJordan, R-Urbana; SteveChabot, R-Cincinnati; BobGibbs, R-Lakeville; andBill Johnson, R-Marietta;
Jordan, a staunch Trump ally, said in a flfloor speech that he objected to changes madebeforethe electionthat he believes weren’t properly approved by state legislatures.
“Americans instinctively know there was something wrong with this election,” Jordan said in a speech on the House flfloor.“We are the fifinal check and balance, the authority rests with us, the United States Congress, the body closest to the American people, right where the founders wanted it.”
Chabot voted to object to certifying the votes from Pennsylvania but not Arizona.
He said in a statement Thursday that he believes Pennsylvania offifficials usurped the power of state lawmakers and unconstitutionally changed rules before the election.
“Iswore anoath touphold the Constitution, and could not in good conscience vote to certify electors from a statewhere our Constitution wasn’t followed,” he said.
“In Arizona, on the other hand, the objections were focused on the application of state law, and I did not think it appropriate for Congress to get involved with such interpretations.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, broke with the majority of members of his party in the U.S. House and didn’t object to the election results. On Wednesday, he issued a statement saying he was “appalled” at what occurred at the Capitol and called for Trump to “permit Congress to facilitate apeaceful transition of power.”
Turner’s office did not release any statementThursday or respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, also voted against objections to certifying the election results.
Portman said he was concernedabout setting a precedentwhereCongress circumvents the will of the states, especially after numerous recounts and court hearings found no evidence of fraud or irregularitieswidespread enough to change the election results.
He noted he also opposed an effort by Democrats to object to counting Ohio’s electoral votes after the2004 election.