Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has joined a growing chorus calling for President Donald Trump’s immediate removal from office in one way or another.
At a news conference on Saturday, Wyden became the latest of several senior Democrats to call for a quick and last-minute removal of the president after the siege of the U.S. Capitol by a crowd of Trump supporters on Wednesday.
“My opinion is that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger,” said Wyden. “He is responsible for this week’s domestic terrorist attack on the people’s capital and he must be held responsible.”
Wyden asked that the president be removed for impeachment or use of the 25th amendment, which requires that a majority of the president’s office declare him unfit for the post.
Both House majority leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called for the removal of the president, as well as other members of the Oregon Congressional delegation, including Senator Jeff Merkley and representatives Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio and Suzanne Bonamici.
Rep. Kurt Schrader of Oregon criticized Trump, but apologized on Friday after comparing the possible impeachment process to a “lynching”, while Rep. Cliff Bentz, who joined an effort to overturn the results of the presidential election after take office on Sunday, has yet to comment.
Impeachment articles are expected to be presented on Monday, and the House of Representatives will be able to vote on them until midweek.
If the House voted to impeach Trump and the Senate voted to condemn him before President-elect Joe Biden took office on January 20, Trump would be removed from office. An impeachment conviction could also mean that Trump would be barred from running for president again in 2024 – or from holding any public office again.
The impeachment removal is an improvised effort, requiring a two-thirds approval from the Senate, which would not start proceedings until after the inauguration, according to a memo sent by the current Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. So far, only one Senate Republican, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, has asked for the president’s resignation. Another, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, said he would “definitely consider” any impeachment article presented by the House.
Wyden said that even if the impeachment did not result in Trump being removed from office, it would send an important message that Americans would not accept events like Wednesday’s siege to happen again.
Democrats, including Wyden, also called for the president to be removed from office in accordance with the 25th amendment to the constitution, which allows the vice president and the majority of the cabinet to dismiss the president if he is “unable to fulfill the powers and duties of your office. ”That path remains unlikely, especially after the recent resignations of two senior cabinet officials, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, who resigned after the US Capitol violence.
On Friday, Wyden also called for the resignation of his fellow Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, who led a Republican effort to challenge electoral votes for Biden – an action that helped inflame the US Capitol crowd, which Wyden called “an attack on the seat of our democracy. “
“Any senator urging such aggression violates his oath and is unworthy to hold a federal position,” Wyden said in a statement released on Friday. “There must be consequences for senators who foster a violent crowd for personal gain.”
Wyden, who was on Capitol Hill during the attack on Wednesday, made a point of calling those who broke into the federal building “domestic terrorists”, saying his aim was to use intimidation to advance a political goal of derailing the vote count. on Wednesday .
The attack was the culmination of Trump’s four years “fanning the flames,” he said.
“Every president has enormous powers in the presidential arsenal, and Donald Trump has just proven once again that he is unable to exercise those powers in the best interests of the American people,” said Wyden. “Every day that Donald Trump is in charge, in my opinion, is a threat to the kind of values that are sacred to this country and Oregon.”
–Jamie Hale; [email protected]; 503-294-4077; @HaleJamesB