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
“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.”
“Moving on” requires accountability.
Attacking our nation without recourse or responsibility isn’t “moving on.” A Capitol Police officer just died. Why are you defending this? https://t.co/yTjh6ikNJs Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 8, 2021
Ocasio-Cortez responded to Graham s tweets by calling him out for defending the president, whom many Democrats and some Republicans have condemned as responsible for inciting Wednesday s riots.
ADVERTISEMENT Move on? Moving on does not mean forget about it, @LindseyGrahamSC, she wrote. “ Moving on requires accountability. Attacking our nation without recourse or responsibility isn t moving on. A Capitol Police officer just died. Why are you defending this?
ADVERTISEMENT Our meeting was very productive, and we will continue to work together on behalf of America throughout the transition, Pompeo added.
The meeting comes one day after Trump said in a recorded video message that he would ensure a smooth transition to the Biden administration after weeks of refusing to concede the election to Biden and calling to overturn the results.
His comments came more than 24 hours after a deadly mob attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, who succeeded in temporarily disrupting congressional certification of Biden s election victory.
Trump has been widely condemned for inciting the riot after weeks of making unsubstantiated claims about a rigged election and widespread voter fraud.
ADVERTISEMENT
Many Democrats and some Republican lawmakers have urged Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment after Wednesday s violence. The 1967 amendment to the Constitution ensures that the government remains in operation should a sitting president be deemed unfit to perform presidential duties.
A majority of the Trump Cabinet and Pence would have to agree the president is unfit to serve for him to be removed.
Five people died amid the chaos Wednesday on Capitol Hill, including a police officer who suffered injuries and a woman who was shot by a plainclothes officer.
Prior to the riots, Trump encouraged his supporters at a rally earlier in the day to march to the Capitol and protest Congress’s certification Biden’s win, repeating unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him.
“I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage,” Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News.
Murkowski s comments come two days after rioters breached the Capitol as Vice President Pence and lawmakers were counting the Electoral College vote.
ADVERTISEMENT
Trump, who has since said he will support an orderly transfer of power, has issued unsupported claims for weeks that the election was rigged and encouraged his supporters to gather at the Capitol on Wednesday ahead of the violence.
Murkowski also appeared to acknowledge that Trump is unlikely to resign, even as House Democrats appear poised to impeach him for a second time and there are growing calls for Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.