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Discussions centered on the 25th amendment to the United States Constitution, which allows the removal of a president by the vice president and the cabinet if he is deemed “incapable of fulfilling the powers and duties of his office.”
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces when they storm the United States Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021. Donald Trump supporters stormed a session of Congress held to certify Joe’s electoral victory Biden. Image: AFP
WASHINGTON – Members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet discussed on Wednesday the possibility of removing Trump from office after his supporters stormed the Capitol, three US news outlets reported.
The action by Trump supporters forced lawmakers to flee to safety and left a woman dead.
Discussions centered on the 25th amendment to the United States Constitution, which allows the removal of a president by the vice president and the cabinet if he is deemed “incapable of fulfilling the powers and duties of his office.”
Invoking him would require Vice President Michael Pence to lead the cabinet in a vote to remove him.
CNN quoted anonymous Republican leaders who said the 25th Amendment had been debated and described Trump as “out of control.”
CBS reporter Margaret Brennan said “nothing formal” had been presented to Pence, and ABC reporter Katherine Faulders said “multiple” sources had told her there were discussions about the unprecedented measure.
Trump’s encouragement of protesters, his baseless claims that he lost the November 3 presidential election due to massive fraud, and other bizarre behavior have raised questions about his ability to lead.
While there are only two weeks left until President-elect Joe Biden takes office, after the attacks on Congress on Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked as well.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Pence urging him to act to remove Trump, saying he had stoked an act of insurrection and “sought to undermine our democracy.”
Pointing to an incoherent speech that Trump delivered on Wednesday, he said it “revealed that he is not mentally healthy and is still unable to process and accept the results of the 2020 election.”
Others blamed Trump for fueling terrorism.
“The President incited an internal terrorist attack on Capitol Hill. He is an imminent threat to our democracy and he must be removed from office immediately,” Rep. Kathleen Rice said in a tweet.
“The cabinet must invoke the 25th Amendment,” he wrote.
The influential Washington Post echoed the call of lawmakers.
“The responsibility for this act of sedition rests squarely with the president, who has shown that his tenure in office represents a serious threat to American democracy. He should be removed from office,” the Post said.
“The president is not in a position to remain in office for the next 14 days. Every second he retains the vast powers of the presidency is a threat to public order and national security,” they said.
FORMER PRESIDENTS DECLINE THE VIOLENCE OF THE CAPITOL
All living former US presidents denounced the violence Wednesday.
George W. Bush called out his fellow Republicans for fueling the “insurrection”, likening the situation to a “banana republic.”
“I am dismayed by the reckless behavior of some political leaders since the elections and by the lack of respect shown today by our institutions, our traditions and our application of the law,” said the Bush statement, in a thinly veiled blow against Trump.
Barack Obama also blamed Republicans and Trump, “who has continued to lie baselessly about the outcome of a legal election,” he said in a statement.
Trump’s most recent predecessor called the incident “a moment of great disgrace and shame for our nation.”
“But we would be fooling ourselves if we took it as a total surprise,” Obama said, calling the events of the day “the aftermath” of Trump and his supporters refusing to accept the year’s election results. past.
Bill Clinton denounced the riots as an “unprecedented assault” on the United States Capitol and the nation itself.
“Today we face an unprecedented assault on our Capitol, our Constitution and our country,” the former Democratic president said in a statement.
“The party was ignited by Donald Trump and his most ardent facilitators, including many in Congress, to overturn the results of an election he lost.”
And the exclusive club’s oldest member, 96-year-old Democrat Jimmy Carter, said he was “concerned” by Wednesday’s scenes, which he called a “national tragedy.”
“We join with our fellow citizens in praying for a peaceful resolution so that our nation can heal and complete the transfer of power as we have done for more than two centuries,” he said in a statement.
SUSPENSION OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Meanwhile, Twitter and Facebook suspended Trump on Wednesday for posts accused of stoking violence on the US Capitol.
The unprecedented sanctions came after the president took to social media to repeat his numerous false claims about fraud and other irregularities in the elections he lost to Joe Biden.
“This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing the video of President Trump,” said Facebook Vice President of Integrity Guy Rosen.
“We eliminated it because, in general, we believe that it contributes, rather than diminishes, the risk of continued violence.”
Facebook banned Trump from posting on the social network or his Instagram service for 24 hours, saying his posts promoted violence.
Trump’s falsehoods, ranging from specific allegations to broad conspiracy theories, also prompted Facebook to change a tag added to posts with the aim of undermining the election results.
The new label reads: “Joe Biden has been elected president with results that were certified by all 50 states. The United States has laws, procedures and institutions in place to ensure the peaceful transfer of power after an election.”
A group of activists calling themselves a mock Facebook oversight board said sanctions against Trump on the social network were long overdue.
“This is too little, too late,” the group said in a statement.
“Donald Trump has violated Facebook’s own terms and conditions several times. His account is not only a threat to democracy but to human life.”
PERMANENT BAN ON TWITTER?
The crackdown came after Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol in an attack that caused police to shoot and kill a woman, disrupting the debate in Congress over Biden’s election victory.
The assault came after the president urged his supporters to march on the seat of government during a speech in front of the White House in which he unsubstantiated allegations that his elections had been stolen.
He later posted a video on social media in which he repeated the false claim, even telling the mob “I love you.”
YouTube removed the video in accordance with its policy of banning claims that challenge the election results.
Twitter said Trump’s posts were violations of the platform’s rules on civic integrity and that any future violations “will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.”
The messaging platform said that Trump’s account would be locked for 12 hours and that if the offending tweets were not removed, “the account will remain locked.”
Facebook said it would search for and remove content that praised the Capitol robbery or encouraged violence.
The platform said it would seek to eliminate additional calls for protests, including peaceful ones, if they violated the curfew imposed by the city of Washington or any attempt to “reorganize” the assault on Congress.
“The violent protests on Capitol Hill today are a disgrace,” said a Facebook spokesperson.
“We prohibit incitement and calls to violence on our platform. We are actively reviewing and removing any content that violates these rules.”
Facebook maintained that it was in contact with law enforcement officials and continued to impose bans on the conspiracy group QAnon, militarized social movements and hate groups.
A #StormTheCapitol hashtag was blocked on Facebook and Instagram, according to the internet titan.
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