With a second possible impeachment of President Donald Trump on the horizon, some Republicans are saying the president’s conduct in egging on a mob that rioted at the Capitol Wednesday is worthy of impeachment or removal. Others, however, say that taking action against the president could inflame tensions further.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he believes Trump should resign immediately, joining a handful of Republican colleagues calling for him to go. Toomey said he believed Trump’s conduct is impeachable but that the appropriate step is for the president to leave office before his term ends on Jan. 20.
“The best way for our country,” Toomey said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” is “for the president to resign and go away as soon as possible. I acknowledge that may not be likely but that would be best.”
Toomey’s remarks reflect a growing momentum in Washington to hold Trump accountable for Wednesday’s unrest. The riots prompted a number of Republicans, including Cabinet members and longtime allies, to speak out.
“Wednesday changed everything,” former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said on “Meet the Press.”
“They love Trump, they love the policies, they were really pleased with the successes of the first four years, but he lost them on Wednesday,” Mulvaney said of conservatives he’s spoken with. “And I think that’s, I think that’s the right thing. I think people need to know that what happened on Wednesday is just different.”
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On ABC’s “This Week,” former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a longtime ally of Trump, said that if the president’s conduct Wednesday was not an impeachable offense “then I don’t know what is.”
While Christie said he’s sure there is “some fear, some place” for Republicans to speak out against Trump, worried of earning the wrath of his staunchest supporters, he added he hasn’t “heard it this week.”
“What I’ve heard from fellow Republicans is that they’ve had enough and that the president’s conduct quite frankly since [the riot] has gotten them upset,” he said.
Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol took place after Trump rallied supporters near the White House and encouraged them to march towards Congress as lawmakers began to tally the Electoral College results, a formality that Trump had hoped to upend. Crowds of supporters eventually breached the Capitol, ransacking the building, forcing members, their staff and journalists, into hiding and causing several deaths.
House Democrats have started drawing up articles of impeachment which they say could be introduced in Congress early this week. As is, majorities of both House and Senate Democrats now support Trump’s removal from office, in addition to the several Republicans.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., has called for Trump’s removal from office via the 25th Amendment, though he does not believe impeachment is the right call.
“I think it victimizes Donald Trump again and I think there’s a moment that we’re in right now where Donald Trump, he’s looking really, really bad,” Kinzinger told ABC’s “This Week,” adding, “I’ll vote the right way you know if I’m presented with that I just think it’s probably not the smartest move right now but I think that’s going to be out of my hands.”
Speaking with CNN’s “Inside Politics,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., called Trump’s falsehoods about the electoral process “the big lie that was being told to the American people.”
“My life was at risk, all of my colleagues,” she said. “We were sitting ducks in the halls of Congress on Wednesday and it was terrifying. I had to have a security detail at home. I’m still receiving threats right now online and on social media and our words are sometimes taken quite literally. Everyone was put at risk unnecessarily so.”
But, she said, a “snap impeachment” might be like “pouring gasoline on the fire.”
“This is serious,” she said. “This is not going away anytime soon. We have time in the days, the weeks and the months ahead to address [it.] I want to be thoughtful about how we go about doing it without further tearing our nation apart because the last thing I want to see is more violence in our country in any of our cities.”
Already, the president has found himself booted from social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook and is facing denouncements from the private sector. Extremists are already vowing to return to Washington, D.C., for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, and both Democrats and some Republicans say danger remains with the president continuing to serve in office.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said he believes that the president should finish out the final 10 days of his term.
“The president should be very careful over the next 10 days that his behavior is what you’d expect from the leader of the greatest country in the world,” he told CBS’s “Face the Nation,” adding an explanation akin to one offered by Republicans the first time the president was impeached — that he had learned his lesson and would not engage in similar conduct.
“Now, my personal view is that the president touched the hot stove on Wednesday and is unlikely to touch it again,” Blunt said. “And if that’s the case, I think … every day, we get closer to the last day of his presidency. We should be thinking more about the first day of the next presidency than the last day of his presidency, in my view.”
He added that whether Trump committed an impeachable offense is “not really the question” since lawmakers are almost out of time to impeach him before his term ends.
And on Fox News, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio and one of the president’s staunchest allies and defenders, said impeachment is “not healthy for the nation.”
“We are at an important point,” he said. “I’m very concerned about where we’re at. I hope, I hope we can begin to come back together.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
