Marin’s Huffman: Prosecute Trump
Speaking alone from his office on lockdown on Wednesday as supporters of President Donald Trump conducted a violent occupation of the Capitol, Marin Rep. Jared Huffman said the nation has crossed a “very consequential line” and called for the prosecution of Trump.
“No one can argue, at this point, that there was just misunderstandings or that these were innocent expressions of patriotism,” Huffman said. “This is a violent coup attempt and it has been instigated by an American president and people have to be held accountable.”
“This is sedition,” he said. “This is really serious and it is high time that we stop treating Donald Trump like he is some innocent or wayward goofball. He is a very sinister criminal.”
Huffman, a Democrat who lives in San Rafael, said he monitored the upheaval Wednesday afternoon through Twitter posts, text messages from his congressional colleagues and the cable news feed he watched in his office at the Longworth House Office Building. None of Huffman’s staff was in the building; aides were told to work from home because of coronavirus precautions, according to Mary Hurrell, Huffman’s communications director.
“Additionally, there was guidance for members to remain in their offices and staff access to the Capitol would be limited,” Hurrell wrote in an email.
The swarm of Trump supporters broke into the Capitol as a joint session of Congress was underway to certify the Electoral College votes from the November presidential election.
“We will get this done,” Huffman said. “We’re not going to be intimidated into not discharging our constitutional duty.”
As for security at the Capitol, Huffman said he does not have complete information on how Trump supporters were able to get into the building. However, Huffman said some of the images he had seen showed those assembled were given a “welcome mat” and questioned whether the same response would have come had it been a crowd of Black Americans.
“Some of the images I’ve seen are really disturbing,” Huffman said. “They suggest this mob of White nationalists — I would call them terrorists — were treated with kid gloves, at least initially.”
It’s too soon to say what steps Congress should take in response to the violence at the Capitol, Huffman said.
“We’ll take stock of what needs to change and who needs to be held accountable,” Huffman said.
While Huffman initially said he was unsure whether Congress could complete an impeachment trial of Trump before Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, he later tweeted that he supported impeachment and the invocation of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
“We are going to impeach the seditious criminal Trump (again), and this time we convict in the Senate. Even if it happens after he leaves office. This just cannot stand,” Huffman wrote.