House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that she spoke with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, about the precautions available that would prevent “an unstable president” – Donald Trump – from “ordering a nuclear attack” or even access nuclear launch codes and initiate other armed forces hostilities.
“The situation of this unbalanced president could not be more dangerous and we must do everything we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced attack on our country and our democracy,” said Pelosi, D-Calif., In a letter to fellow lawmakers. Democrats.
The Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the National Security Council did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Speaks during her weekly press conference in Washington on Thursday, January 7, 2021.
Caroline Brehman | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Pelosi’s letter comes two days after a crowd of Trump supporters revolted outside and inside the United States Capitol in the wake of a rally where the president encouraged them to “fight” with him to prevent Joe Biden from becoming the next president of United States. Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died in connection with the riot.
The section of the letter referring to her conversation with Milley is entitled, “Preventing an Unbalanced President from Using Nuclear Codes.”
“This morning, I spoke with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, to discuss the precautions available to prevent an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing launch codes and ordering a nuclear attack,” wrote Pelosi.
Air Force General John Hyten, who is currently vice president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said three years ago during a speech that he would resist executing a Trump order to launch nuclear weapons if he considered such an order “illegal”.
Pelosi, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and other Democratic lawmakers demanded that Trump be removed from office, either by invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, or via impeachment.
In his letter, Pelosi told lawmakers that, “Almost fifty years ago, after years of empowering his dishonest president, Republicans in Congress finally told President Nixon that it was time to go.”
“Today, following the president’s dangerous and seditious acts, Republicans in Congress need to follow that example and ask Trump to step down – immediately. If the president does not leave his post imminently and voluntarily, Congress will continue our action ”.
– Additional reporting by Amanda Macias
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