Boston Herald
The entire Massachusetts congressional delegation is now calling to either limit President Trump’s power or remove him from office entirely in the waning days of his presidency after pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday.
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Seth Moulton swiftly called for Trump to be impeached, again, after the violent mob breached and ransacked the Capitol and disrupted Congress’ proceedings to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory for several hours.
Moulton also joined U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Reps. Richard Neal, Bill Keating, Jim McGovern, Lori Trahan and Jake Auchincloss in calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked.
Trump’s actions “have demonstrated his lack of interested in the institutions of governance,” Neal said on a call with reporters Thursday. “He clearly incited that mob yesterday with his incendiary comments and his continued suggestion that he did not lose this election.”
U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark tweeted that Trump should be “removed from office.”
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, who told the Herald as rioters continued to swarm the Capitol that he believed Trump had “instigated” the violence, initially held back.
But Thursday morning, the South Boston Democrat said he supported “beginning the procedures of invoking the 25th amendment or drawing up articles of impeachment to limit his ability to cause any further damage to the country.”
“I am stunned by the behavior of the President and the circumstances that he provoked yesterday that allowed 4 people to lose their lives and the U.S. Capitol to be overcome by violence,” Lynch said in a statement.
The 25th Amendment allows for the president to be temporarily designate his or her duties to the vice president, which has been used in cases where presidents have undergone medical procedures. But it also allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to determine that the commander in chief is “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the office. The president can challenge that claim, and it would take two-thirds of both houses of Congress to remove him from power.
“While it is extremely unlikely that this process could succeed within 13 days,” Lynch said, “It would still send a clear message to other government agencies to resist any questionable or momentous instructions President Trump may give that would put the lives of Americans in peril or threaten our National Security.”
Moulton, who called Wednesday’s storming of the Capitol “an attempted coup,” told the Herald that “the commander in chief needs to be relieved of his command.”
Pressley said in a statement that the “acts of domestic terrorism” at the Capitol “make clear what we have known for years: Donald J. Trump is a grave threat to our democracy who must immediately be removed from office.”
Pressley co-sponsored fellow “squad” member U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s resolution to impeach Trump that was unveiled Thursday.
“Donald Trump presents a clear, direct threat to our democracy and national security, and yesterday’s acts of white supremacist domestic terrorism on the U.S. Capitol — incited by Trump himself — is further evidence of the danger he presents,” Pressley said. “Our nation cannot afford one more day with Trump in office. He must be immediately impeached by the House of Representatives and removed from office by the United States Senate.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer both called to invoke the 25th Amendment on Thursday. If that doesn’t happen, Pelosi said Congress “may be prepared” to move forward with impeaching Trump for a second time.
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