Democratic lawmakers call for President Trump’s removal, impeachment after DC protests
Jan 6, 2021, 3:40 PM | Updated: 3:53 pm
FILE - In this March 6, 2019, file photo, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., sits with fellow Democrats on the House Education and Labor Committee during a bill markup, on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Several Democratic lawmakers are calling for the removal — and in some cases, impeachment — of President Donald Trump after protests broke out at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) tweeted Wednesday afternoon that she was drafting articles of impeachment, calling on Congress to remove him from office.
“Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate,” Omar said. “We can’t allow him to remain in office, it’s a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath.”
This comes as several Democratic lawmakers are calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, removing the president from office.
“Dear @VP @Mike_pence: You need to start the 25th Amendment,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA). “@realDonaldTrump is detached from reality.”
Dear @VP @Mike_Pence: You need to start the 25th Amendment. @realDonaldTrump is detached from reality. https://t.co/FkGBte8ZxB
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 6, 2021
Under the 25th Amendment, the law states the president can be removed from office if found to be “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” If that happened, Vice President Pence would assume office temporarily.
Other Democratic lawmakers chimed in to the national conversation, urging Vice President Pence to take action — with several calling the protesters “domestic terrorists.”
“The President has been encouraging these domestic terrorists since before the election,” said Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA). “He could have stopped them at any moment, but instead he whipped them into a frenzy and sicced them on the Capitol.”
The National Association of Manufacturers joined in, releasing a statement supporting the move to remove the president via the 25th Amendment.
“Vice President Pence, who was evacuated from the Capitol, should seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy,” the organization said in its statement. “This is not the vision of America that manufacturers believe in and work so hard to defend. Across America today, millions of manufacturing workers are helping our nation fight the deadly pandemic that has already taken hundreds of thousands of lives.”
This comes after President Trump released a video on Twitter calling on protesters to “go home” — but continued making false claims of fraud, calling it a “stolen election.”
Twitter later restricted responses on the tweet citing it as a disputed claim.
This story is developing and will be updated.
