House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Donald Trump should immediately be removed from office or Congress may proceed to impeach him.
Pelosi on Thursday joined those calling on the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to force Trump from office. It came a day after a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, forcing the building into lockdown. Trump called them “very special” people and said he loved them.
She said at the Capitol: “The president of the United States incited an armed insurrection against America.”
Pelosi says he could do further harm to the country: “Any day can be a horror show for America.”
Democrats and some Republicans want Trump removed before his term ends on Jan. 20 with Democrat Joe Biden’s inauguration.
The 25th Amendment allows for the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unfit for office. The vice president then becomes acting president.
Three House Democrats, including Southern California congressman Ted Lieu, have started circulating articles of impeachment seeking the president’s removal.
“Yesterday was a despicable and shameful moment in American history. We must impeach and remove the President,” Lieu tweeted.
Other lawmakers on Capitol Hill — including Sen. Chuck Schumer, the top ranking Democrat in the Senate — also on Thursday called on Trump’s cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.
In a statement, Schumer said the attack on the Capitol “was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president.” He added, “This president should not hold office one day longer.”
If Pence and the Cabinet won’t act, Schumer says “Congress should reconvene to impeach the president.”
The violence at the Capitol building came as Congress met to affirm Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election.
Four people died, including a 35-year-old woman from San Diego who was shot by police, authorities said. The three others suffered medical emergencies.
Dozens of others have been arrested, with police and federal authorities still searching for many others involved in the riots.