Trump concedes it’s transition time. Will Nancy Pelosi now move to impeach him twice?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi began Thursday by saying it’s too dangerous to leave President Donald Trump in charge after Wednesday’s Capitol riot.
The California Democrat said that while the 25th Amendment is the best route for removing Trump from office, since it provides a path for the president to be ousted immediately, her Democratic colleagues are “very much interested” in impeachment.
“My phone is exploding, impeach, impeach, impeach,” she said.
Hours later, the president issued a video statement, saying he is now ready to “get on with the business of America” and once again promising an “orderly and seamless” transition.
Now the next move is up to Democrats.
House Democrats began circulating potential articles of impeachment Thursday. The four-page resolution says Trump should be impeached for “abuse of power.”
It says that Trump “has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office.”
The Democratic-run House impeached Trump in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in connection with his efforts to get help from Ukraine with the 2020 election. The Republican-led Senate voted against removing him from office. If Pelosi proceeds with the new articles, Trump could be the first president in American history to be impeached twice.
Pelosi is closely watched because she tends to be somewhat more measured in how she proceeds.
Thursday, though, her mood was downright angry and her words unusually pointed.
During the invasion of the Capitol, a now-iconic photo showed a rioter with his feet on her desk in her office.
“By inciting sedition as he did yesterday he must be removed from office,” Pelosi said of Trump. “While there’s only 13 days left, any day can be a horror show for America.”
As a result, she said, “I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th Amendment. If the vice president and cabinet do not act the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment that is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus and the American people.”
Pence, however, has not had any discussions with Cabinet members on invoking the 25th Amendment, McClatchy reported, despite several high-level White House resignations Wednesday and Thursday and some staffers questioning Trump’s ability to continue in office.
Impeachment could happen quickly, though it would not mean Trump’s removal from office. An article of impeachment needs only a House majority to be approved, which would probably come easily since Democrats control the chamber.
It is likely to attract little Republican support. Only one congressional Republican, Illinois’ Adam Kinzinger, has called for Trump’s removal and Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, said he “would not oppose it” if the 25th Amendment was invoked.
In California, Rep. Tom McClintock, who voted not to overturn the election results this week, said of the removal talk, “Haven’t we done enough to divide the country and pervert the Constitution? The 25th Amendment addresses physical incapacitation, not bad conduct.”
Trump can only leave office once impeached if two-thirds of the Senate agrees, and there are 50 Republican senators. None have suggested that Trump leave office, and the Senate is not scheduled to return to Washington until January 19.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, a prominent Trump critic, said “Time is a little short for that” when asked by reporters late Wednesday about impeachment.
Asked about invoking the 25th Amendment, he said, “I think we’ve got to hold our breath for the next 20 days.”
The impeachment measure being circulated Thursday by Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and David Cicilline, D-Rhode Island, cites Trump’s actions in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including his speech Wednesday morning to supporters.
In that speech, the impeachment article says, Trump “willfully made statements that encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — imminent lawless action at the Capitol.”
It continues to charge that “President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government,” the impeachment article says. “He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coordinate branch of government.”
Another impeachment effort is being led by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. She has provided only a partial copy of her resolution, but asked colleagues in a letter “Congress must take immediate action to keep the people of this country safe and set a precedent that such behavior cannot be tolerated.”
The 25th Amendment was ratified in 1967, a response to the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and concerns about how to deal with a president unfit for office.
Until then, if a president died in or left office, the vice presidency was not filled.
The amendment permits the vice president and majority of the president’s Cabinet to declare Trump unable to continue in office and replace him with Pence.
If the president disputes the action, however, Congress would have to vote to remove him.
Pelosi was asked Thursday how long she was willing to wait to see if Pence would act to convene Cabinet members.
“I don’t know how quickly he may respond. We’ll see,” she said. “I don’t think it’ll take long to get an answer from the vice president.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 4:49 PM.
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