Two former presidents united in condemning the crowd that stormed the Capitol, while Democrats led calls to impeach President Donald Trump for what they called his incitement of the 'insurrection' by demonstrators.
Several thousand Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, interrupting the joint session of Congress meeting to certify Democrat Joe Biden as the next US president.
The violence was “incited by a sitting president who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election, as a moment of great dishonor and shame for our nation,” said Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, calling what happened on Capitol Hill the “desecrated chambers of democracy.”
Here’s my statement on today’s violence at the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/jLCKo2D1Ya
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 7, 2021
Obama denounced Republicans for a “fantasy narrative” that has “spiraled further and further from reality, and it builds upon years of sown resentments” and urged the party to “choose reality” and “choose America” by certifying the election of Democrat Joe Biden as the next president.
His predecessor George W. Bush called the “insurrection” at the Capitol a “sickening and heartbreaking sight.”
“This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic – not our democratic republic,” Bush said, condemning “people whose passions have been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes.”
Statement by President George W. Bush on Insurrection at the Capitol pic.twitter.com/rF77j0fIBK
— George W. Bush Presidential Center (@TheBushCenter) January 6, 2021
Meanwhile, several Democrat lawmakers have called for Congress to impeach Trump again – as the House did in December 2019, though he was acquitted in the Senate.
“I am drawing up Articles of Impeachment” against Trump, announced Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), saying that Congress “can’t allow him to remain in office” as a “matter of preserving our Republic.”
I am drawing up Articles of Impeachment.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 6, 2021
Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate.
We can’t allow him to remain in office, it’s a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath.
“Impeach,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) tweeted in agreement.
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts), who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, argued that Trump “incited an insurrection” and should be removed for “an assault on the citadel of democracy.”
The President incited an insurrection in the U.S. Capitol today. The 25th amendment should be invoked, and he should be removed from office. What we witnessed in Washington today was an assault on the citadel of democracy.
— Rep. Richard Neal (@RepRichardNeal) January 7, 2021
Meanwhile, CBS News has reported that more than one member of Trump’s cabinet is discussing invoking the 25th Amendment and asking Vice President Mike Pence to remove Trump from office, but haven’t made a formal motion yet.
JUST IN: “This is not news we deliver lightly,” @margbrennan says as she reports: Trump Cabinet secretaries are discussing invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump. Nothing formal yet presented to VP Pence.
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) January 7, 2021
“I’m talking about actual members of the Cabinet,” she says
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