Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus) is joining the list of officials calling for President Trump’s immediate removal from office after extremist pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building Wednesday.
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, along with Ohio Democrats like Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Tim Ryan, are calling on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment: declaring Trump unfit and removing him from office. If Pence refuses, they’re threatening new articles of impeachment against Trump.
Beatty says she agrees with that “100%.”
“If not,” Beatty says of Pence, “I would support and join Speaker Pelosi and the Congress in doing it.”
In prepared remarks, Beatty describes what occured Wednesday – which happened as members of Congress were certifying the Electoral College victory of President-elect Joe Biden – as a "terrorist attack" and "failed insurrection."
She says what happened "was certainly an assault on our democracy, and every American."
Beatty recently took the reins of the Congressional Black Caucus and says her members are preparing to draft a resolution to that effect.
“He has placed this nation and people in harm’s way,” Beatty explains of Trump’s actions. “I think he is dangerous. I think he is having a very a difficult time with losing the election.”
Under the 25th Amendment, the vice president and a majority of cabinet members leading executive agencies, like the Department of Education or Agriculture, would have to agree to remove the president.
