Calling President Donald Trump a “clear and present danger to the republic” in the aftermath of Wednesday’s rioting at the U.S Capitol, Nevada Rep. Dina Titus joined the legion of Democratic lawmakers calling for the president’s immediate removal from office.
“President Trump incited a violent mob of domestic terrorists who attempted to disrupt the peaceful transition of power and destroy our democracy,” Titus said. “He is a clear and present danger to the republic. If given the opportunity, I would vote to impeach him again.”
The move comes as Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Republican Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger called for the president’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office by declaring him unfit to serve. Vice President Mike Pence would become president until the Jan. 20 inauguration of Joe Biden in such a scenario.
The rioting Wednesday by the pro-Trump mob disrupted the constitutionally mandated process to affirm Biden’s presidential election victory over Trump. The mob tore down metal barricades at the bottom of the Capitol’s steps outnumbering the Capitol Police officers who met them.
Hundreds of protesters pushed past the officers and made their way into the Capitol, parading, hollering and wreaking destruction throughout the halls and popping up at the Senate dais and in Pelosi’s office.
The skirmishes came just shortly after Trump addressed thousands of his supporters earlier Wednesday, riling up the crowd with his baseless claims of election fraud at a rally near the White House.
“We will not let them silence your voices,” Trump said in encouraging the protesters to make their way to the Capitol.
Though Trump has less than two weeks in office, lawmakers — and even some in his administration — began discussing his removal Wednesday afternoon as Trump first refused to forcefully condemn the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, and then appeared to excuse it.
Senior Trump administration officials raised the long-shot possibility of invoking Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, the forceful removal of Trump from power by his own Cabinet.
And if his isn’t removed, Pelosi said the House may move forward with a second impeachment — making Trump the first president to twice be impeached.
The House last year approved two articles of impeachment against Trump for abuse of power after he solicited election assistance from Ukraine, making him the third president to face removal by the U.S. Senate.
To remove a president from office, the House must pass articles of impeachment on a simple majority vote, and the Senate must vote to convict on a two-thirds majority vote. He was acquitted by the Senate in Feb. 2020.
“Do they stand by these actions?” Pelosi asked. “Are they ready to say that for the next 13 days this dangerous man can do further harm to our country?”
Nevada Democratic Rep. Steve Horsford, along with other members of Congress, cosponsored articles of impeachment early Thursday afternoon.
“This is a responsibility that I do not take lightly,” Horsford said. “The incitement of domestic terrorism against our nation’s Capitol was a direct attempt to subvert and deny the will of the American people. Donald Trump is a risk to our national security, democratic institutions, and the Constitution itself.”
Democratic Rep. Susie Lee, whose district includes Henderson, came out in favor of Trump’s removal midafternoon Thursday, stating he failed to uphold his duty to protect the American people and actively incited the attack on the Capitol.
Trump, Lee said in a statement, “deserves to be removed from office, whether by invoking the 25th Amendment, impeachment, or resignation,”
The congresswoman, however, said with Trump’s term ending in less than two weeks, the political reality is that he probably will not be removed from office.
“While I fully support his removal, without broad bipartisan support, the likelihood of removing Donald Trump from office in the next 13 days is extremely low. Especially after the political theater that consumed the Electoral College certification process in Congress, we owe it to our constituents to be honest,” she wrote.
The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment to The Associated Press.
Others in the Nevada delegation haven’t taken a public stance on removing Trump.
Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in a Twitter post Thursday wrote that Trump’s “dangerous rhetoric that inspired violence at the U.S. Capitol endangers the very foundation of our democracy.”
Her colleague, Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen, said in a statement that Congress would now have to “focus our work to rebuild the country and strengthen our democratic institutions.
“I remain committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to keep our country safe for the next 13 days until President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in, because protecting our country and our democracy is a top priority, now more than ever,” Rosen said in a statement.
Republican Rep. Mark Amodei of Northern Nevada has been silent in calling for Trump’s removal, but on Wednesday during the rioting Tweeted, “January 6, 2021: History made today for all the wrong reasons. Shameful.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.