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WASHINGTON – Calls for the impeachment of President Donald Trump increased on Thursday (January 7), along with criticism of the security breach that allowed a crowd of his supporters to invade the Capitol a day earlier.
But on Thursday night, the president appeared to grant the election for the first time.
Returning to Twitter from a 12-hour ban by the platform, Trump adopted a conciliatory note in a recorded video message.
“We just had an intense election and emotions are running high. But now we have to cool down and restore calm, “he said.
“A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now is on ensuring a smooth, orderly and smooth transition of power. This moment demands healing and reconciliation. “
He added, “Serving as your president has been the honor of my life … And to all my wonderful fans, I know you are disappointed, but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is just beginning.”
Trump also condemned the violence on Wednesday, saying the rioters had desecrated the seat of American democracy.
“Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, anarchy and chaos,” he said.
Removal calls
As investigators began piecing together bits of information and evidence about the unprecedented assault on the Capitol while Congress was in a joint session to count Electoral College votes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Vice President Mike Pence invoking the 25th Amendment.
The provision is typically used to temporarily transfer power to the vice president while a president undergoes, say, a surgical procedure. It has never been used to remove a president from office against his will. The Cabinet would have to make that determination.
If Pence doesn’t invoke the 25th Amendment, Congress may be prepared to impeach the president a second time, Pelosi said. The House impeached Trump in 2019, but the Republican majority in the Senate acquitted him.
“The president of the United States incited an armed insurrection against the United States,” Pelosi told a news conference. “By calling for this seditious act, the president has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer intervened with a statement: “What happened yesterday at the United States Capitol was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the President. This president shouldn’t be in office for another day. “
Biden mourns Trump
On the other hand, in a scorching speech while revealing the top Justice Department appointees, President-elect Joe Biden flayed Trump, saying the assault on Capitol Hill was “an unprecedented assault on our democracy.”
Mr. Biden called the mafia “insurgents” and “domestic terrorists.”
He said, “I wish we could say we don’t see it coming. But that’s not true. We could. For the past four years, we have had a president who has made clear his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution and the rule of law in everything he has done. It has unleashed an all-out assault on the institutions of our democracy. And yesterday was just the culmination of that relentless attack. “
Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois became the first Republican lawmaker to call for the invocation of the 25th Amendment mechanism of the Constitution.
“Here’s the truth: the president caused this,” he said in a video statement. “The president is not in shape and … he is not well. And the president must now give up control of the executive power voluntarily or involuntarily ”.
He added: “It is time to invoke Amendment 25 and end this nightmare.”
But many Republicans opposed the use of the 25th Amendment at this late stage. In practice, it would be complicated and cumbersome, and the president can challenge it.
As for impeachment, it takes time. Trump only has 13 days left in office; His term ends at 12 pm on January 20. Debate and voting may take place in the House, but there may not be time to do the same in the Senate.
Security failure
Meanwhile, the heads are ready to roll in the Capitol’s security settings.
Senator Schumer said he would fire the Senate sergeant-at-arms, while Pelosi called for the resignation of the Capitol Police Chief.
On Thursday night, the House Sergeant at Arms resigned over the assault on the Capitol where the mob invaded the Capitol Police.
Even with anticipated news from the rally and open chatter on online forums that the Capitol was a target, security on the Capitol was much lighter than at events like the Black Lives Matter protests last summer.
“We spent $ 750 billion on defense and the Pentagon, and we couldn’t control an insurrection on the US Capitol,” Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jaypal said Thursday.
Congressman Tim Ryan told reporters that up to 60 Capitol Police officers were injured, including 15 hospitalized and one in critical condition. Many were hit on the head with lead pipes, he said.
But a video has also surfaced of some Capitol Police officers at an entry point inexplicably allowing crowds to enter the building.
Volatile situation
Meanwhile, security analysts also warn that the United States remains in a very volatile phase.
In a media briefing for the National Task Force on Electoral Crises, a network of law and security specialists, Ms. Rachel Kleinfeld, non-resident associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: we face? this case is a well-known facet of much weaker democracies, which is a personal army that a politician has cultivated and that he uses to threaten his opponents ”.
More right-wing rallies are scheduled in Washington DC, and other state capitals, in the coming days, including Inauguration Day.
“We are at a very fragile and vulnerable time for our country,” Ms. Kleinfeld warned.
Right-wing groups see the assault on the Capitol as “a gigantic triumph for their movement, a recruiting tool and a fundraising tool, suggesting that … upcoming events are going to be bigger,” he added.
“So I think we have real concerns, particularly around our inauguration for … President-elect Biden.”
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