Furious Republican leaders float removing Trump from office

Furious Republican leaders float removing Trump from office

by

“He has to be impeached and removed,” said a current Republican-elect.

A former senior official said the president’s actions were blatant enough to remove him, even with so little time left in his term.

“I think it was a huge shock to the system,” said the former employee. “How do you keep it in place for two weeks after that?”

With the impeachment and removal of Trump, even at this final stage of his term, the Senate could subsequently vote to disqualify Trump from a federal post again. On the other hand, invoking the 25th Amendment would require Vice President Mike Pence and a majority of the Cabinet to vote to remove Trump from office due to his inability to “fulfill his office’s powers and duties” – an unprecedented step.

Within minutes of protesters violating the Capitol on Wednesday, Republicans were revisiting the idea of ​​removing Trump from office, a choice that almost all of them made a year ago during last year’s impeachment trial.

Trump’s blunt denunciations are also unprecedented. Former President George W. Bush, who kept a low profile, issued a strong rebuke on Wednesday night, calling the Capitol “insurrection” a “sick and moving view”. Although he did not mention Trump by name, Bush said he was “appalled by the reckless behavior of some political leaders since the election and the lack of respect shown today by our institutions, traditions and law enforcement.”
Mitt Romney, the Utah senator who was the only Republican to vote to condemn the president for an impeachment article last year, went further, calling the president a “selfish man” who “deliberately misinformed his supporters” about the election . Romney also called the Capitol attack an “insurrection” and blamed Trump, saying he “stirred [supporters] for action this morning. “

Wyoming Republican MP Liz Cheney, a member of the House leadership, echoed Romney’s anger and frustration with Trump. “There is no doubt that the president formed the mob. The president incited the mob, the president addressed the mob,” Cheney said on Fox News. “He lit the flame.”

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube act on Trump's posts amid disturbances in the United States Capitol

And Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a staunch ally of Trump, was relentless. “It is past time for the president to accept the election results, to stop deceiving the American people and to repudiate the violence of the crowd,” said Cotton.

Other Republicans on Capitol Hill were also furious at the president.

“The president needs to cancel,” Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “Cancel it! It’s over. The election is over.”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois fired Trump’s tweet on Wednesday afternoon asking rioters on the Capitol to “remain at peace”.

“This is cowardice,” Kinzinger told Tapper. “He needs to get up and say, I lost the election, let the count go on.”

But as Trump seems unlikely to make these concessions, two longtime Republican activists and White House allies said the president should go.

“Pence was supposed to move against him in the 25th Amendment,” said one.

“They need to invoke the 25th Amendment immediately,” said the other.

.Source