WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats discuss whether to act quickly to impeach President Donald Trump next week if his cabinet doesn’t try to remove him first after encouraging loyalists who looted the Capitol in a siege that killed five people come.
If Trump, whose term ends January 20, were impeached by the House and condemned by the Senate, he could be prevented from fleeing again or ever holding the presidency in 2024. Trump would only be the president to be impeached twice.
House Democrats scheduled a caucus meeting for noon on Friday, the first since Wednesday’s harrowing events at the Capitol, and could include articles of impeachment against Trump as early as the next week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Discussed the prospect of impeachment with her leadership team Thursday night, hours after the House announced that it was willing to act as Vice President Mike Pence and other administrative officials were not relying on Section 4 of the 25th amendment – Trump’s vigorous removal from power by his own cabinet.
The last days of Trump’s presidency are beginning to end chaotically as he accumulates in the White House, abandoned by aides, leading Republicans and cabinet members. He plans to leave office when Democrat Joe Biden is sworn in, but top officials are seriously warning of the damage he could still do on his way out.
Rep. Adam Schiff, who led Trump’s impeachment in 2019, said in a statement Friday that Trump “lit the fuse that exploded in the Capitol on Wednesday.”
Schiff, D-Calif., Said that “every day he remains in office he is a danger to the Republic.”
Five people are now dead from the violent melee, including a Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick. Pelosi said in a statement Friday that Sicknick’s death “reminds us of our duty to those we serve: to protect our country from all threats at home and abroad.”
She said those responsible for the officer’s death “should be brought to justice.”
Although Trump has less than two weeks into his tenure, lawmakers and even some in his administration began discussing options for his removal Wednesday afternoon, when Trump first encouraged White House protesters to march to the Capitol and then forcefully declined the attack. to condemn. and seemed to apologize.
Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark, a House Democratic Leadership member, said procedural steps could allow lawmakers to act much faster than last year’s impeachment of Trump.
Representative James Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat, said he could confirm that “we have had discussions about it and I hope the speaker will move on if the vice president refuses to do what he has to do under the constitution. . Clyburn, DS.C., told CNN, “Everyone knows this president is insane.”
A leading Republican critic of Trump, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, said he “will certainly consider impeachment.”
“The president has ignored his oath of office,” Sasse told CBS “This Morning.” He said that what Trump did was “bad” at inciting the crowd. If the House declines, “I will certainly consider which items they could move,” Sasse said.
Pelosi and Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer have called on Trump’s cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to force Trump from office before Biden is inaugurated. Schumer said he and Pelosi tried to call early on Thursday to discuss that option but were unable to connect to him.
At a new conference on Thursday, Pelosi challenged several cabinet members by name, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
“Do they support these actions?” Pelosi asked. “Are they willing to say that this dangerous man could do even more damage to our country in the next 13 days?”
Most Democrats, and many Republicans, blamed Trump entirely after hundreds of protesters wearing Trump flags and clothing broke into the Capitol, causing destruction and mass evacuations. The president had urged his supporters to protest while Congress was counting electoral votes confirming Biden’s victory.
Pelosi said that “a threshold of such magnitude was crossed” that Trump was not allowed to make decisions.
Three Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee began circulating articles of impeachment on Thursday. Representatives David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Ted Lieu of California wrote in the articles that Trump “ made deliberate statements encouraging – and expected to result in – impending lawless action at the Capitol. ”
The House impeached Trump in 2019, but the Republican-led Senate acquitted him in early 2020.
Pence has not publicly spoken about the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment, but that possibility may have faded after two cabinet members resigned in protest on Thursday after Trump urged protesters who then mounted the deadly assault on the Capitol.
But senior Trump administration officials raised the long-running possibility as chaos unfolded in the Capitol. Officials throughout the administration went so far as to study the procedures to declare Trump “incapable of fulfilling the powers and duties of his office.”
No member of the cabinet has publicly expressed support for the move, which would make Pence the acting president. But some were believed to be sympathetic to the idea, believing Trump to be too volatile in his waning days.
Under the 25th Amendment, Trump could dispute his cabinet’s finding, but the cabinet could quickly reaffirm its position and keep Pence in power while demand fell to lawmakers.
While the House could vote quickly to impeach Trump, it is extremely unlikely that Congress could impeach the president in the next 13 days. The Senate should receive the articles, hold a trial and vote on them.
And even if it did, the Republican Senate would be unlikely to vote to condemn. Democrats plan to narrowly take the Senate when Biden is inaugurated, but Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Is holding the gavel until then.
But to some extent of the uncomfortable position that Trump’s prickle of the crowd had placed on Republican lawmakers, there was a notable lack of GOP statements attacking Democrats’ calls for his removal.
Biden distanced himself from pressure from his fellow Democrats to oust Trump with the 25th Amendment. Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the president-elect, said Biden was focused on taking office January 20, “and will leave it to Vice President Pence, the cabinet and Congress to act as they see fit.”
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Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Alexandra Jaffe contributed to this report.