Pelosi said if Pence does not act, then the House would consider impeachment to remove him from office. Such a move would be largely symbolic, since there would be little time for a Senate trial before Trump’s term ends in 13 days.
“What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement Thursday morning. “This president should not hold office one day longer.”
“The quickest and most effective way — it can be done today — to remove this president from office would be for the vice president to immediately invoke the 25th Amendment,” Schumer said. “If the vice president and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president.”
In the afternoon, Pelosi called Trump a “dangerous man who should not continue in office. “This is urgent. This is [an] emergency of the highest magnitude,” she told reporters at her weekly press conference.
“I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment. If the vice president and Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. That is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus, and the American people, by the way.”
Pelosi said that Trump incited “sedition” on Wednesday when a crowd of his supporters violently stormed the Capitol.
“While it’s only 13 days left, any day can be a horror show for America,” she said.
Under a provision of the 25th Amendment, the vice president can, with the support of the majority of the Cabinet, invoke the the measure and declare Trump unfit for office, which could lead to his early removal. Under such a scenario, the vice president would immediately take over as acting president.
Asked what would spur the House to vote on articles of impeachment, Pelosi said that the fastest way that Trump can be removed is if Pence, with the assistance of members of Trump’s Cabinet, decide to remove up using the 25th Amendment.
“My phone is exploding with impeach, impeach, impeach,” said Pelosi, who admitted that she had no immediate plans yet because she hasn’t gone to sleep since the electoral vote certification process finished around 4 a.m. ET.
As for investigating the violence that unfolded at the Capitol, she said that she is calling for the resignation of U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund. He announced he would do so on Thursday night.
Pelosi also said that there will be an after-action review that will look into the shortcomings in the government’s intelligence and what took so long for National Guard troops to be mobilized and sent to the Capitol.
The attack on the Capitol on Wednesday came after Trump spoke to the crowd, encouraging them to march to the building and saying, “You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong.”
Trump was slow to respond after his supporters stormed the building, and eventually sent out a pair of tweets calling for peaceful protest while also repeating his false election claims and telling the rioters he loved them.
On Thursday, more than 24 hours after the occupation, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany read a statement blasting the rioters’ actions.
“We condemn it — the president and this administration — in the strongest possible terms. It is unacceptable and those that broke the law should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” McEnany said, adding that “Those who violently besieged our capital, are the opposite of everything this administration stands for.”
She spoke for just under two minutes and did not answer questions, including why she was making the statement and not the president, who’s been loathe to personally criticize any wrongdoing by his supporters during his four years in office.
Earlier Thursday, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois became the first Republican in Congress to call for Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
In an interview with MSNBC, Kinzinger called Trump “unmoored, not just from his duty, or even his oath, but from reality itself,” and said Pence and the rest of Trump’s Cabinet needed to invoke the measure “to end this nightmare.”
