The storming of the US Capitol in Washington DC yesterday by a mob loyal to President Donald Trump has prompted calls by legislators to remove him from office before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20.
Strikingly, these calls have come from both sides of the aisle. Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont on Wednesday was the first GOP governor to openly call for the president’s resignation. Scott stated that the president “should resign or be removed from office by his Cabinet, or by the Congress” for orchestrating “a campaign to cause an insurrection that overturns the results of a free, fair and legal election.”
He was later joined by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, also a Republican, who said in a statement on Twitter on Thursday: “It is clear to me that President Trump has abandoned his sacred oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Our nation would be better off if Vice President Pence conducted the peaceful transition of power until President-elect Biden is inaugurated.” Biden was confirmed by Congress early Thursday morning as the winner of the presidential election and is due to be sworn into office on Jan. 20.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer also urged the Cabinet to remove Trump from office, arguing that he should not hold the position 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. If the Vice President and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president,” Schumer added.
Under the 25th Amendment, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet can relieve the president of power if they determine he is unfit to carry out the duties of the office. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that if the amendment is not invoked, Congress may move forward with impeachment.
Trump’s alarming actions yesterday—which included telling the rioters “We love you! And we understand your pain!” rather than condemning them—have further divided the administration, with a number of officials resigning in the wake of the violence. US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who is also the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, announced her resignation on Thursday, saying that the attack has “deeply troubled” her in a way she “simply cannot set aside”.
Other outgoing aides include deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger, First Lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff Stephanie Grisham, White House social secretary Anna Cristina Niceta, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Intelligence and Security John Costello, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Matthews, senior White House advisor on Russia Ryan Tully, US special envoy to Northern Ireland Mick Mulvaney, and acting chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers Tyler Goodspeed.
The president, for his part, however, seemed to be unfazed by the chaos, as he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to multiple athletes on Thursday. Trump also reportedly briefly spoke at the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) winter meeting, making no mention of the previous day’s events. He did however issue a statement through his deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino, saying: “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless, there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
Earlier in the day, Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that it was suspending Trump’s social media accounts on its platforms for the rest of his presidency and possibly beyond.