WASHINGTON – Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Heeded calls from a handful of his Republican colleagues on Sunday for President Donald Trump to resign for “recruiting thousands of Americans” and “inciting them to attack the Capitol building” last week.
Toomey, who on Saturday said he believed Trump had committed impeachable crimes, argued that resignation is the only realistic option for Trump’s departure before his term ends on January 20 because he does not believe the Trump Office will remove him from office. position under the 25th Amendment and believes that there is not enough time for Congress to challenge him before he leaves office.
“The best way for our country,” said Toomey in NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” is “the president resigns and leaves as soon as possible. I recognize that it may not be likely, but it would be for the best. “
Toomey said that in addition to Trump’s comments on the riots, the president’s conduct since he lost his candidacy for re-election in November was “crazy”.
“After the election, he took it to a totally different place, in different orders of magnitude,” said Toomey. “Recruiting thousands of Americans from across the country to come down to the Capitol, promising a ‘wild ride’ and urging them to attack the Capitol Building to avoid constitutional responsibility for the vice president and Congress to complete the peaceful transfer of power. “
The Republican senator, who does not seek re-election in 2022, said the president must face the consequences of last week’s riots, where Trump supporters emerged from a demonstration to invade the Capitol, sparking clashes that eventually led to five deaths.
Despite Trump’s record of spreading false information and lies, his focus on settling accounts with those who oppose him and accusations of pressuring a foreign government to investigate a political opponent that led to his impeachment last year, Toomey called for more recent appointment by the president of significant escalation.
“I don’t think his unbelievable behavior on Wednesday could be reasonably expected,” said Toomey.
“The president plunged into a kind of madness that was different. I’m sorry if people don’t recognize this, I think what he did last week is totally different from the offensive tweets that were common during his presidency. “
Two bombs were recovered during the scene at the Republican and Democratic Party headquarters, and police discovered weapons, including Molotov cocktails and revolvers, during the arrests of some of the protesters.
Hours before the attack on the Capitol, Trump spoke at a demonstration designed to match the counting of votes from the Congressional Electoral College and asked Vice President Mike Pence to use his ceremonial role to declare him the winner, describing the country as “under siege, “and warning that Republican lawmakers should” fight “for him or face a major challenge in his re-election.
Trump remained silent for hours as lawmakers, officials and reporters took shelter in the Capitol building, which was invaded by a crowd of supporters of the president.
On Wednesday night, he tweeted that the riot was the result of what happens “when an overwhelming and sacred electoral victory is so unceremonious and cruelly withdrawn from great patriots who have been treated badly and unfairly for so long. Go home with love and in peace. Remember this day forever. ”He later tweeted a video condemning violence on Capitol Hill, and has since been banned on Twitter and other social media platforms.
Wednesday’s riots led most House and Senate Democrats to support Trump’s removal, with some Republicans, including Toomey, joining calls for Trump’s removal or resignation and some administration officials resigning. in protest.
“The attack on the Capitol was a violent uprising that was incited and encouraged by Donald Trump,” Deputy Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., a member of the Democratic leadership of the House, told “Meet the Press”, adding that Trump is a ” clear and present danger to the health and safety of the American people. “
But even if Trump doesn’t step down early, either by resignation or by resignation, Toomey believes the episode was an irretrievable blow to Trump, who launched the idea of running for president again in 2024.
“There is no good way to deal with this, it is a terrible situation that he put us in. But it is appropriate that there are consequences, ”said Toomey.
“He disqualified himself, I don’t think he can be the Republican candidate and I certainly don’t think he can win a general election.”
It is not just the president who faces criticism on Wednesday – many Democrats, and some Republicans too, have criticized the Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, from Missouri and Texas, for their vocal support for the president’s pressure to object to the Electoral College votes.
When asked if he would like to see either of them resign from the Senate, Toomey said “this is their judgment” but that “they will have a difficult sled ahead of them”.