Pelosi demands Trump's removal through 25th Amendment, threatens impeachment
WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Thursday joined Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office.
"By inciting sedition as he did yesterday he must be removed for office. While there's only 13 days left any day could be a horror show for America," Pelosi told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Trump "invited an armed insurrection against the United States of America," Pelosi said Thursday, a day after a pro-Trump mob incited by the president stormed the Capitol, vandalizing the building and forcing lawmakers to be evacuated.
Pelosi left open the possibility of impeaching Trump a second time.
Under the 25th Amendment, the president can be removed from office by the vice president plus a majority of the Cabinet, or by the vice president and a body established by Congress, if they determine that he "is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."
It would be an extraordinary step before the end of Trump's term on Jan. 20.
Meanwhile, Pelosi called on Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to step down over criticism of his staff's handling of the insurrection, and she said House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving had submitted his resignation.
Pelosi praised the actions of individual Capitol Police officers, but she said there was a failure of leaders who had not contacted her after the attack on the Capitol.
"Many of our Capitol Police just acted so bravely and with such concern for the staff, for the members, for the Capitol, for the Capitol of the United States, many of them, and they deserve our gratitude," Pelosi said Thursday. "But there was a failure of leadership at the top of the Capitol Police. And I think Mr. Sund, he hasn't even called us since this had, you know, [occurred], so I had made him aware that I would be saying that we're calling for his resignation now."
Sund has been the chief of the Capitol Police since 2019. Irving has been the House Sergeant of Arms since 2012.
Earlier, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Senate Sergeant of Arms Michael Stenger to resign.
Pelosi said there also needs to be a full review of the security failures at the executive branch level, such as the FBI's intelligence, and how long it took the Pentagon to mobilize the National Guard.