R.I.’s Cicilline leads call to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office

The Democratic congressman was joined by other members of the House Judiciary Committee in a letter that declared the president ‘is not mentally sound’

Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island and chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, speaks during a hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, July 29, 2020.Graeme Jennings/Bloomberg

House Judiciary Committee members, led by US Congressman David Cicilline of Rhode Island and Congressman Ted Lieu of California, called on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office, just hours after a pro-Trump mob stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

NEW: I am sending a letter with @RepTedLieu and our colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee, calling on Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump from office after today’s events. pic.twitter.com/5VK8DLTLn4

— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) January 7, 2021

“The world watched aghast as insurrectionists, who had been egged on by the President, threatened the safety of elected officials and staff and destroyed public property as they stormed and occupied both the House and Senate chambers bringing our democracy to a halt.” the members of Congress wrote in the letter, which was released late Wednesday. “At one point, the insurrectionists even removed an American flag flying at the Capitol and replaced it with a Trump flag.”

“Meanwhile, president Trump remained silent even as insurrections broke windows, threatened U.S. Capitol Police, and scaled the walls of the Capitol. Earlier in the morning, President Trump held a rally at the White House and told protesters “I’ll be with you” and encouraged them to march to the Capitol to protest the certification of the electoral college votes,” they wrote.

The lawmakers wrote that, in his video announcement Wednesday afternoon, Trump “revealed that he is not mentally sound and is still unable to process and accept the results of the 2020 election. Trump’s willingness to incite violence and social unrest to overturn the election results by force clearly meet this standard.”

“For the sake of our democracy, we emphatically urge you to invoke the 25th Amendment and begin the process of removing President Trump from power,” the wrote.

The letter was signed by Cicilline and US Representatives Jerold Nadler of New York, Steve Cohen of Tennessee, Ted Deutch of Florida, Pramilla Jayapal of Washington, Hank Johnson of Georgia, Joe Neguse of Colorado, Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania, Sylvia Garcia of Texas, Cori Bush of Missouri, Ted Lieu of California, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, Hank Johnson of Georgia, Lucy McBath of Georgia, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Veronica Escobar of Texas, Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, and Mondaire Jones of New York.