After President Donald Trump’s mob disrupted proceedings at Capitol Building on Wednesday, there are calls for his removal from office, reports Assistant Editor (Foreign) BOLA OLAJUWON.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the House may go forward with impeachment of President Donald Trump if 25th Amendment is not invoked. She has the support of incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who also said he would fire the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger.
Schumer called on the Cabinet to remove Trump from office, adding that he shouldn’t be president “one day” longer.
“What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president. This president should not hold office one day longer,” Schumer wrote in the statement. “The quickest and most effective way – it can be done today – to remove this president from office would be for the Vice President to immediately invoke the 25th amendment. If the Vice President and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president.”
Mayor Martin J. Walsh also yesterday said Trump should be removed from office.
“I absolutely believe that the president should be removed from office,” Walsh said during his regular briefing at Faneuil Hall, calling on officials in Washington to start “a process right now, they should be moving forward [based] on what he did yesterday.”
The American political institutions were tested on Wednesday with a deliberate assault on its democracy by a sitting President, Donald Trump and his supporters, who attempted to exploit a final opportunity to overturn a free and fair election won by President-elect Joe Biden.
After the extraordinary act of violence from the riotous mob forced the U.S. legislators to evacuate the Capitol during the counting of the Electoral College votes in the presidential election, Congress voted in the early morning hours of yesterday to certify the results showing Biden defeated Trump.
A spirited objection by a group of Republican lawmakers of the results of Arizona and Pennsylvania did not withstand a vote in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. Debates of the objections to Arizona had barely started on Wednesday when Trump supporters stormed the building and disrupted the proceedings.
The International Association of Political Consultants (IAPC) condemned the attack on the Capitol.
“With more than 50 years as a global champion of democracy, the IAPC believes these events underscore the importance of ethical leadership, election transparency, respects for the facts and understanding and respect of due process in constitutional democracies,” the association said in a statement by its president, Mauricio De Vengoechea.
Congress certifies electoral votes
The session resumed and continued through the night after normalcy returned. At approximately 3:33 a.m. ET yesterday, Congress certified enough electoral votes to surpass the 270 threshold that guaranteed Biden would become the 46th president, effectively ending a desperate bid by Trump and his supporters to overturn the results of the November election.
“The votes for president of the United States are as follows: Joseph R. Biden, Jr. of the State of Delaware has received 306 votes. Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 232 votes,” Vice President Mike Pence, who presided the session declared.
“The announcement of the state of the vote,” Pence continued, “by the president of the Senate, shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and vice president of the United States each for the term beginning on the 20th day of January, 2021.”
Trump gives up, commits to ‘orderly transition’
Moments after Pence declared Biden the winner of the election, Trump released a statement in which he pledged an “orderly transition” of power. Political analysts argued that Trump capitulated after world leaders condemned his “disgraceful and distressing” violence at U.S. Capitol. Other watchers claimed that some members of his cabinet warned him about the consequences of his actions – likelihood of impeachment and enforcement of The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution, which says that if the President becomes unable to do his job, the Vice President becomes the President. This can happen for just a little while, if the President is just sick or disabled for a short time. It could also happen until the end of the President’s term (his time in office), if the President died, resigned, or is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”.
Also Article Two, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution says: “In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.”
It was claimed that seeing what was staring him in the face, Trump made the promise in a statement after Congress certified Biden and Kamala Harris as the country’s next president and vice-president.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on Jan. 20.
“I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted.
“While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!” he said.
Facebook, Instagram block Trump’s accounts ‘indefinitely’
The statement was released through his spokesperson’s Twitter account after the company blocked the president from using his own account.
Facebook Inc took the unprecedented step of blocking Trump’s social media accounts on its platforms for the remaining 13 days of his presidency and possibly beyond, the company’s CEO announced yesterday.
Facebook, which owns photo-sharing app Instagram, will also block his account there, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post the day after Trump supporters breached the U.S. Capitol building in a violent, unruly mob, forcing lawmakers to flee and the complex to be placed under lockdown for several hours.
“We believe the risks of allowing President Trump to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great, so we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks,” Zuckerberg wrote in his post that explained the decision.
World leaders condemn ‘disgraceful, distressing’ violence at U.S. Capitol
Leaders and officials across the globe yesterday reacted to the scenes of rioting in Washington, D.C. Condemning the “acts of violence,” the leaders showed their solidarity with the American people and called for the “peaceful transfer of power” in several posts across social media.
United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a post on Twitter: “Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress. The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.”
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison echoed Johnson’s sentiment, tweeting: “Very distressing scenes at the U.S. Congress. We condemn these acts of violence and look forward to a peaceful transfer of government to the newly elected administration in the great American democratic tradition.”
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, in a thread on Twitter, said: “Like so many others, I’ve been watching what’s happening in the United States. I share the sentiment of friends in the U.S. – what is happening is wrong.”
“Democracy – the right of people to exercise a vote, have their voice heard and then have that decision upheld peacefully should never be undone by a mob. Our thoughts are with everyone who is as devastated as we are by the events of today. I have no doubt democracy will prevail,” Ardern added.
In the tweet sharing a video message, French President Macron noted: “What happened today in Washington, D.C. is not America. A few violent individuals forced their way into the secular temple of American democracy: the Capitol. A woman was killed. When, in one of the world’s oldest democracies, supporters of an outgoing president take up arms to challenge the legitimate results of an election, a universal idea—that ‘one person, one vote’—is undermined.
“Today France stands strongly, fervently and resolutely with the American people and with all people who want to choose their leaders.”
High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell concurred with Macron’s words.
Borrell tweeted: “This is not America. The election results of 3 November must be fully respected,” describing the incident as “an unseen assault on U.S. democracy, its institutions and the rule of law.”
Simon Coveney, Irish minister for foreign affairs and minister for defense, tweeted: “Shocking & deeply sad scenes in Washington DC – we must call this out for what it is: a deliberate assault on Democracy by a sitting President & his supporters, attempting to overturn a free & fair election! The world is watching! We hope for restoration of calm.”
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said: “The U.S. Congress is a temple of democracy. To witness tonight’s scenes in #WashingtonDC is a shock. We trust the U.S. to ensure a peaceful transfer of power to @JoeBiden.”
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said: “I believe in the strength of U.S. institutions and democracy. Peaceful transition of power is at the core. @JoeBiden won the election. I look forward to working with him as the next President of the USA.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the “orderly and peaceful transfer of power must continue. The democratic process cannot be allowed to be subverted through unlawful protests,” in a post on Twitter.
The violence that struck the U.S. Congress was a consequence of Trump’s actions during his four-year term, Iranian President Hassan Rowhani said yesterday.
Also, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry described the U.S. electoral system as “archaic” in the wake of the storming of the U.S. Capitol Building. “We are again drawing attention to the fact that the U.S. electoral system is archaic, it does not meet today’s democratic standards,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Sakharova told the Interfax agency.
Four die, 52 arrests made after Trump supporters storm U.S. Capitol
It was, however, gathered that four people died and 52 were arrested after the storming of the U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C.’s Police Chief said.
In a late-night news conference, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert J. Contee said 47 of the 52 arrests to date were related to violations of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 6.00 p.m. curfew. Twenty-six of those arrests were made on the U.S. Capitol grounds. Several others were arrested on charges related to carrying unlicensed or prohibited firearms.
In addition, Contee said, two pipe bombs were recovered from the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees, as well as a cooler from a vehicle on U.S. Capitol grounds that contained Molotov cocktails.
Contee declined to identify the woman a Capitol Police officer shot and killed, saying next of kin notification was still pending. Three other people also died on Wednesday because of medical emergencies, he added, and 14 police officers were injured – two of whom remain hospitalised.
While the number of people arrested is expected to grow, the initial number pales in comparison to the more than 300 people who were arrested by the Police, following the June 1 protests in the district related to the police killing of George Floyd.
Melania Trump’s chief of staff and Mick Mulvaney resign
Stephanie Grisham, U.S. First Lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff, said she was resigning after the storming of Capitol Building. A longtime associate of Mrs. Trump, Grisham was also a former White House spokeswoman. She said it had been an honour to serve the Trump administration. Grisham gave no reasons for her unexpected move.
Also, Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former chief of staff and current special U.S. envoy to Northern Ireland, resigned from the administration after the riots. According to a report from CNBC yesterday, Mulvaney said he called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday evening to deliver his resignation.
Mulvaney made the remarks on a “Squawk Box” interview. “I called (Secretary of State) Mike Pompeo last night to let him know I was resigning from that. I can’t do it. I can’t stay,” he said, pointing out that Trump was “not the same as he was eight months ago”.
He also speculated that other Trump administration officials may soon follow suit.
Calls for arrest of Trump, sons, Giuliani mount
Many commentators, including MSNBC host, Joe Scarborough, have called for the arrest of Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., and lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for their roles in inciting the “insurrection” attempt at the Capitol.
“Are we a nation of laws, or are we a nation of one man? Donald J. Trump called for the insurrection against the United States of America. He called for it. Rudy Giuliani called for combat justice just an hour or two before this happened. Donald Trump Jr. said ‘We are coming for you,’” Scarborough said on yesterday’s episode.
“That’s insurrection against the United States of America, and if Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and Donald Trump are not arrested today for insurrection and taken to jail and booked, and if the Capitol Hill police do not go through every video, and look at the face of every person that invaded our Capitol, and if they are not arrested and brought to justice today, then we are no longer a nation of laws and we only tell people they can do this again.”
