The rapidly growing calls among Democrats to oust President Donald Trump, either by his own cabinet taking action or by impeachment, is quickly running up against the limits of time and Republican Party politics.
Trump on Thursday appeared to be trying to quell the furor and head off any clamor for his ouster within the GOP. He released a video message in which he condemned the storming of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on Wednesday and said he was prepared for a smooth transition to President-elect Joe Biden.
“A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th,” Trump said. “My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power.”
The president has been besieged on all sides since supporters he inspired vandalized the Capitol and disrupted the House and Senate during the certification of the Electoral College vote. Some administration officials have resigned in protest and several senior Republicans in Congress said he bears responsibility for inciting the mob and refusing for weeks after the election to acknowledge Biden’s victory.
Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark, a Massachusetts Democrat, said Friday morning the chamber will move forward with impeachment of Trump if his vice president and cabinet do not try to remove him from office under the 25th Amendment.
“If the reports are correct and Mike Pence is not going to uphold his oath of office and remove the president and help protect our democracy,” Clark told CNN Friday, referring to reports that Pence has no plan to invoke the 25th Amendment. “Then we will move forward with impeachment to do just that.”
Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska said Friday he would “definitely consider” potential Articles of Impeachment brought by the House following the Capitol siege.
“I believe the president has disregarded his oath of office,” Sasse said on CBS News. “He swore an oath to the American people to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. He acted against that. What he did was wicked.”
Even so, most Republicans haven’t expressed an appetite for another drawn-out political battle with the combative president, who has just 12 days before he leaves office.
Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the lone Republican who voted to convict Trump in last year’s impeachment trial, pointed out that there’s little time for either an impeachment or what likely would be a prolonged battle over the Constitution’s 25th Amendment, which provides for the removal of a president.
“I think we have to hold our breath” until Trump’s term runs out, he told reporters this week.
Trump’s encouragement of the mob in Washington prompted Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday to call on Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet to remove Trump under the 25th Amendment. They both said Trump could be impeached — for what would be a second time — if they don’t.
Pelosi and Schumer are channeling the genuine fear and anger among Democratic lawmakers that spans the party’s ideological spectrum from Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York to Stephanie Murphy of Florida, the co-chair of the moderate Blue Dog Democrats.