CNN :
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team are considering a lightning-quick impeachment process if Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet refuse to take unprecedented steps to remove President Donald Trump from office in less than two weeks’ time, according to multiple Democratic sources.
The stunning intervention to remove a sitting president would need significant bipartisan support to succeed in the Senate, something Democrats don’t have yet. But Pelosi has bluntly warned the White House that the House would impeach Trump for “seditious acts” in inciting riots at the Capitol on Wednesday.
“This is urgent-this is an emergency of the highest magnitude,” the California Democrat told reporters Thursday. “My phone has been exploding with ‘impeach, impeach, impeach.’ “
Pelosi and her leadership team spoke Thursday night about whether to hold a quick impeachment vote, and the overwhelming sentiment was to move ahead, according to multiple sources. While there were some dissenters concerned that the move could be perceived as an overreach and turn off Trump supporters in their districts, the view among most top Democrats-including Pelosi-is that Trump should be held accountable for his actions.
Moving ahead with impeachment, of course, doesn’t mean Congress would be able to remove Trump from office. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could let the clock run out and not hold an impeachment trial in his chamber given that President-elect
Joe Biden will be President on January 20.
McConnell, sources said, hasn’t spoken to Trump for weeks-fallout from the Kentucky Republican acknowledging Biden won the presidency in mid-December.
For his part, Biden has no appetite for opening an impeachment proceeding, people familiar with the matter said Thursday night, as he prefers to keep his focus on taking office in less than two weeks. “Impeachment would not help unify this country,” a person close to Biden said, who added that “this is a matter to be decided by the Congress.” Sources told CNN earlier Thursday the President-elect had no intention of weighing in on the 25th Amendment talks either.
If Pence and the Cabinet don’t invoke the 25th Amendment, Democrats have been discussing a process that would allow them to bypass the committee proceedings and move articles of impeachment directly to the floor within two days.
The discussions are expected to intensify Friday, when House Democrats hold their first full-caucus call since the attack on the US Capitol as a growing number of members press for impeachment.
Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) spoke with the nation’s top general about options for preventing President Trump from launching a nuclear weapon during his final days in office, she said Friday.
In a letter to colleagues reflecting on the week when pro-Trump rioters breached the Capitol, Pelosi outlined a call with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley that she described as aimed at “preventing an unhinged president from using the nuclear codes.”
“This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike,” she wrote. “The situation of this unhinged president could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy.”
Pelosi’s letter gave no indication on what Milley’s response or advice was.
Milley’s spokesperson, Col. Dave Butler, said in a brief statement that Pelosi initiated the call and that the general “answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team are considering a lightning-quick impeachment process if Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet refuse to take unprecedented steps to remove President Donald Trump from office in less than two weeks’ time, according to multiple Democratic sources.
The stunning intervention to remove a sitting president would need significant bipartisan support to succeed in the Senate, something Democrats don’t have yet. But Pelosi has bluntly warned the White House that the House would impeach Trump for “seditious acts” in inciting riots at the Capitol on Wednesday.
“This is urgent-this is an emergency of the highest magnitude,” the California Democrat told reporters Thursday. “My phone has been exploding with ‘impeach, impeach, impeach.’ “
Pelosi and her leadership team spoke Thursday night about whether to hold a quick impeachment vote, and the overwhelming sentiment was to move ahead, according to multiple sources. While there were some dissenters concerned that the move could be perceived as an overreach and turn off Trump supporters in their districts, the view among most top Democrats-including Pelosi-is that Trump should be held accountable for his actions.
Moving ahead with impeachment, of course, doesn’t mean Congress would be able to remove Trump from office. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could let the clock run out and not hold an impeachment trial in his chamber given that President-elect
Joe Biden will be President on January 20.
McConnell, sources said, hasn’t spoken to Trump for weeks-fallout from the Kentucky Republican acknowledging Biden won the presidency in mid-December.
For his part, Biden has no appetite for opening an impeachment proceeding, people familiar with the matter said Thursday night, as he prefers to keep his focus on taking office in less than two weeks. “Impeachment would not help unify this country,” a person close to Biden said, who added that “this is a matter to be decided by the Congress.” Sources told CNN earlier Thursday the President-elect had no intention of weighing in on the 25th Amendment talks either.
If Pence and the Cabinet don’t invoke the 25th Amendment, Democrats have been discussing a process that would allow them to bypass the committee proceedings and move articles of impeachment directly to the floor within two days.
The discussions are expected to intensify Friday, when House Democrats hold their first full-caucus call since the attack on the US Capitol as a growing number of members press for impeachment.
Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) spoke with the nation’s top general about options for preventing President Trump from launching a nuclear weapon during his final days in office, she said Friday.
In a letter to colleagues reflecting on the week when pro-Trump rioters breached the Capitol, Pelosi outlined a call with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley that she described as aimed at “preventing an unhinged president from using the nuclear codes.”
“This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike,” she wrote. “The situation of this unhinged president could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy.”
Pelosi’s letter gave no indication on what Milley’s response or advice was.
Milley’s spokesperson, Col. Dave Butler, said in a brief statement that Pelosi initiated the call and that the general “answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority.”
