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President Donald Trump speaks to his supporters in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021, before some of them stormed the United States Capitol.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images
- US President Donald Trump is facing renewed calls to resign.
- Authorities continue to search for Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol.
- This followed repeated false claims by the president that he had lost the presidential vote to Joe Biden due to fraud.
Donald Trump faced fresh calls Sunday from some members of his own party to resign over the violent raid on the United States Capitol, as the threat piles up for a historic second impeachment effort in his last 10 days in the House. White
With the inauguration of Democrat Joe Biden on January 20 fast approaching, and with the country hit by a growing pandemic, a slumped economy and a scorching divide, resignation “is the best way forward,” said Republican Senator Pat. Toomey to CNN, adding: “That would be a very good result.”
Toomey said that since losing the Nov.3 election, Trump had “descended to a level of insanity and engaged in absolutely unthinkable activity.”
He said Trump’s behavior after the election was “tremendously different” than it was before.
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the first Republican senator to urge the resignation, saying, “I want it out.” House Republicans, including Adam Kinzinger on Sunday, have echoed that call.
Authorities continued to search for Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday after repeated false claims by the president that he had lost to Biden due to fraud.
A seven-foot-high (about two meters) black metal fence has been erected around the historic building, and extremists have threatened further action in the coming days in both Washington and state capitals.
A rioter flies a pro-Trump flag inside the Capitol.
A House Democratic leader said Biden’s party would likely introduce at least one article of impeachment against Trump this week, accusing him of inciting violence, which left five people dead, including a Capitol cop.
“It may be Tuesday or Wednesday before action is taken,” House whip James Clyburn told CNN, “but I think they will be taken this week.”
Impeachment could still be circumvented with a resignation from Trump or by resorting to the 25th amendment to the constitution, which would remove him from power, but it requires the consent of the vice president and most of the cabinet, making it unlikely.
One reason Democrats could pursue the conviction, even after Trump leaves office, is to prevent him from running for federal office again.
So far, the president has resisted all comments on the resignation and is reportedly furious at recent events, including Pence’s rejection of vocal pressure from Trump to intervene in any way in congressional confirmation on Wednesday of Biden’s election victory.
Trump has been largely silent in recent days, making no statements, no press conferences, and his mental state has become a bit less transparent since Twitter, his favorite public platform, banned him for using language that could incite violence.
A rioter flies a pro-Trump flag inside the Capitol.
For now, the question of whether and when to impeach is largely in the hands of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In an open letter to members on Saturday, he did not use the word impeachment, but said: “It is absolutely essential that those who perpetrate the assault on our democracy be held accountable. There must be an acknowledgment that this desecration was instigated by the president. . “
He urged members to “be prepared to return to Washington this week.”
The Democratic-controlled House is expected to pass the articles, but there were signs on Sunday that an impeachment trial in the Senate may not open for months.
The Senate rules mean the upper house probably won’t be able to open a trial before Jan. 19, and Toomey said he wasn’t sure it was constitutionally possible to impeach a former president.
Democrats, for their part, expressed concern that a Senate trial would overshadow and hamper Biden’s efforts to quickly craft his agenda, starting with the fight against the coronavirus and the need to support the economy.
“Let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days” at the beginning of his term to address the most pressing issues, Clyburn said. “Maybe we will ship the items some time after that.”
And West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat whose vote could be crucial in the new evenly split Senate, told CNN that impeachment after Jan. 20 “doesn’t make any sense.”
