Former Trump White House Chief of Staff John Kelly backs use of 25th Amendment to impeach President

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“Yeah, I would,” Kelly told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” when asked if he would be in favor of invoking the amendment if he had a vote.

Comments from Kelly, who left the White House under contentious circumstances in January 2019, come as a growing list of Democratic and Republican members of Congress calls for Trump to be removed from office either by impeachment or by the 25th Amendment thereafter. a violent crowd of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

They also represent one of Trump’s strongest reprimands from a former member of his White House amid the fallout from Wednesday’s riot. Invoking the 25th Amendment would force Vice President Mike Pence and a majority in the Cabinet to vote to remove Trump from office due to his inability to “discharge the powers and duties of his office” – an unprecedented step.

“I think the Cabinet should meet and have a discussion. I don’t think that will happen, but I think the Cabinet should meet and discuss it because the behavior of yesterday and in the weeks and months before just outrageous. of the president, ”said Kelly, who has occasionally criticized Trump since leaving office.

“What happened yesterday on Capitol Hill is the direct result of his poisoning the minds of people with lies and fraud,” he added.

Kelly, who has mostly kept a low profile since leaving the White House, told Tapper he was “horrified” by the violent scene.

“Just an incredible scene on Capitol Hill. Frankly, the President’s actions and words did not surprise me at all, but I was very, very surprised that these people attack the people’s house, cause the damage they have caused and embarrass us all, ”he said, referring to the pro-Trump mob.

Kelly also rebuffed comments from his successor, Mick Mulvaney, who resigned from a diplomatic post he held in the administration on Wednesday, saying Trump was not the same as he was several ago. month.

“I don’t think he’s changed a bit,” Kelly said when asked about the comments. “Of course he’s enraged because he lost an election. He’s a laughing stock now and he’s hitting her. But then again, someone’s got to help him, you know, handle it.”

In addition to Mulvaney, several other officials have resigned from the administration to protest Wednesday’s riot and Trump’s reaction, including Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, one of Trump’s longest-serving cabinet members who will be leaving officially his post on Monday.

Trump’s deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger was also among those who left the government, as was the first lady’s chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, press secretary and social secretary of the White House.

This story has been updated with more from the interview.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Kaitlan Collins and Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.

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