Pelosi: House could move to impeach Trump if he doesn’t resign ‘immediately’

California President Nancy Pelosi threatened on Friday that the House could decide to impeach President Trump for his role in inciting a violent mob attack on the Capitol if he did not resign “immediately”, calling on them Republicans to join efforts to force him out of office. .

In a letter to members of the House, the speaker invoked the resignation of Richard M. Nixon amid the Watergate scandal, when Republicans convinced the president to step down and avoid the ignominy of impeachment, calling it Mr. Trump’s actions of “a horrible assault on our democracy.” “

“Today, in the wake of the President’s dangerous and seditious acts, Republicans in Congress must follow suit and call on Trump to leave his office – immediately,” she wrote. “If the president does not leave office imminently and voluntarily, Congress will continue our work.”

Ms Pelosi also said she spoke with General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to “prevent an unstable president from starting military hostilities or accessing launch codes. “.

A spokesman for General Milley, Col. Dave Butler, confirmed that the two had spoken and said the general had “answered his questions regarding the nuclear command authority process.”

But some Defense Department officials have privately expressed their anger that political leaders appear to be trying to get the Pentagon to do the job of the Secretaries of Congress and Cabinet, who have legal options to impeach a president.

Mr. Trump, they noted, is still the Commander-in-Chief and, unless he is removed from office, the military is required to follow his legitimate orders. While military officials can refuse to carry out orders they consider illegal, they cannot proactively remove the president from the chain of command. It would be a military coup, these officials said.

Ms Pelosi’s letter came as impeachment momentum grew rapidly on Friday among grassroots Democrats across the party’s ideological spectrum, and a handful of Republicans offered potential support.

Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, Democrat No.4, said if Vice President Mike Pence did not invoke the 25th Amendment to forcibly remove Mr. Trump from office, House Democrats were ready to act in impeachment by the middle of next week. But during a noon phone call, others warned Democrats should take a break to consider the implications, and Ms Pelosi told colleagues she plans to speak to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. of the question later Friday afternoon.

In an appearance in Wilmington, Del., On Friday, Mr. Biden did not weigh in on Mr. Trump’s impeachment plans by saying, “What Congress decides to do is up to them to decide. “

But Mr. Biden had harsh words for Mr. Trump, saying, “He’s got past even my worst notions about him.” It was an embarrassment for the country. And he added: “He is not worthy of this post.”

An aide to Ms Pelosi said she still has not heard from Mr Pence, despite intense public pressure on him to take action. But it was said that Mr. Pence was against it and that she was planning to move forward.

Democrats were rushing to start the fast-track procedure two days after the president rallied his supporters near the White House, urging them to come to Capitol Hill to protest his electoral defeat, then continuing to stoke their grievances as they took storming the building – with Mr. Pence and the entire congressional meeting inside to formalize Mr. Biden’s victory – in a rampage that left an officer and mob member dead. (Three others died, including a woman crushed in the crowd and two others who had medical emergencies on the Capitol grounds.)

The prospect of forcing Mr. Trump out of office in less than two weeks seemed distant given the logistical and political challenges involved, given that a two-thirds majority in the Senate would be required.

Just a day after voting twice to overturn Mr Biden’s legitimate victory in the major swing states, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader, urged both sides to “turn down the heat” and said that he would contact Mr. Biden to unite. the country. While he did not defend Mr Trump, he argued that seeking to fire him would not help him.

“The dismissal of the president with only 12 days remaining in his mandate will only further divide our country,” he said.

At least some Republicans seemed newly open to this possibility, which could also disqualify Mr. Trump from holding political office in the future.

Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse, a frequent critic of Mr. Trump, said he “would certainly consider any items they might come up with because I think the president ignored his oath.”

“He took an oath to the American people to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution – he acted against it,” Mr. Sasse said on CBS. “What he did was mean.”

The next session of the House is scheduled for Monday, which means that articles of impeachment cannot be introduced before that date. Friday, Mrs. Clark said on twitter that Democrats were striving to find “the quickest path to hold Trump accountable” but added that they were facing “obstruction and attempts to delay us by GOP supporters.”