Republican senator says Trump should quit, as momentum for impeachment grows in House

[webfact]

Republican senator says Trump should quit, as momentum for impeachment grows in House

By Susan Cornwell, Doina Chiacu and Daphne Psaledakis

 

FILE PHOTO: A supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump smashes a window using a baseball bat during a "Stop the Steal" protest outside of the Capitol building in Washington D.C. U.S. January 6, 2021. Picture taken January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A second Republican U.S. senator called on Sunday for President Donald Trump to resign, saying he could face criminal liability after the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

 

The remarks by Senator Pat Toomey, a conservative supporter of Trump until recently, came as Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives prepared to move forward with impeachment proceedings and amid federal investigations of Wednesday's assault on the seat of government.

 

Republican Trump, who has challenged the validity of President-elect Joe Biden's Nov. 3 election victory, falsely claiming widespread fraud, praised and egged on his supporters before they laid siege to the Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying the Electoral College vote for Biden.

 

"I think the best way for our country is for the president to resign and go away as soon as possible," Toomey said on NBC, calling Trump's behavior since the election outrageous.

 

A top Democrat suggested lawmakers might wait to send the impeachment article to the U.S. Senate for a trial to give Congress time to approve Biden's Cabinet nominees and other agenda items. Democrat Biden takes office on Jan. 20.

 

"Let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running," House Majority Whip James Clyburn said on CNN.

 

Toomey, appearing on Sunday television news shows, said he did not think impeachment was viable with only 10 days left in Trump's term, and noted there did not appear to be a consensus to use the Constitution's 25th Amendment to strip Trump of his powers.

 

He told CNN he believed Trump could be held criminally liable in the events at the Capitol.

 

Lisa Murkowski on Friday became the first Republican U.S. senator to say Trump should resign immediately, and Republican Ben Sasse said he would "definitely consider" impeachment.

 

It was unclear whether a significant number of other Republicans would follow suit. Republican leaders have urged the Democratic-led House not to initiate impeachment proceedings for a historic second time against Trump.

 

A few Republicans have joined Democrats' call for Vice President Mike Pence to exercise the 25th Amendment to remove Trump. Pence has opposed the idea, an adviser said.

 

Senator Roy Blunt, a member of the Republican leadership, told CBS' "Face the Nation" he did not think Trump should resign but that he should be "very careful over the next 10 days."

 

The White House said Trump planned to leave Washington to visit the border wall in Alamo, Texas, on Tuesday, a day after House Democrats plan to introduce an article of impeachment accusing him of inciting insurrection.

 

IMPEACHMENT

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made it clear impeachment was not Democrats' first choice, but she embraced the move if Trump is not removed by other means.

 

Democratic Representative Ted Lieu said there were now 200 co-sponsors for the impeachment legislation he will introduce on Monday. The House could take up impeachment on Tuesday or Wednesday, Clyburn told CNN's "State of the Union."

 

Biden has not taken a position on Trump's impeachment, saying he will leave it to Congress. He did say Congress needs to be able to hit the ground running once he takes office, when he will focus on dealing with the raging coronavirus pandemic and economic recovery.

 

Five people including a Capitol Police officer died as a result of Wednesday's rioting and dozens of people have been charged following the storming of the Capitol.

 

Authorities are investigating the security lapse, with some lawmakers questioning whether rioters had help from inside the building after images emerged of some police officers opening barricades and posing for selfies with the rioters.

 

The ripple effects of Wednesday's violence persisted on Sunday. The attending physician for Congress warned lawmakers in a letter they may have been exposed to COVID-19 while in lockdown during the riots.

 

Hundreds of officers lined a street near the Capitol to honor the slain officer, Brian Sicknick, as his remains were driven by. The White House lowered its flags to half staff on Sunday, two days after flags at the Capitol were lowered in his honor.

 

Democrats will take control of the Senate following victories in two Georgia runoff elections last Tuesday that will put incoming Vice President Kamala Harris in place to make tie-breaking votes.

 

The Republican-controlled Senate cleared Trump during his first impeachment trial over allegations he threatened U.S. national security.

 

Toomey, a conservative who plans to retire at the end of his term in two years, said he believed that Trump had descended after the election into an unthinkable level of "madness."

 

"I don't think he's a viable candidate for office ever again because of the outrageous behavior in the post-election period," Toomey told NBC's "Meet the Press."

 

If found guilty after leaving office, Trump would lose benefits enjoyed by former presidents, such as security and pension, and the Senate could vote to bar him from running for a second term.

 

Chris Krebs, a senior U.S. cybersecurity official fired by Trump after declaring the 2020 presidential election the most secure in American history, said Trump's legacy was a "heap of ashes" after he tried to overturn a fair election.

 

"There is an opportunity, though, for a redemption story," Krebs said on CBS. "He can resign."

 

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell, Doina Chiacu, Linda So, Daphne Psadelakis, Steve Holland, Nandita Bose, Andrea Shalal, David Shepardson; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-11

 

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[Lacessit]

Trump's only hope now is to resign, and get a presidential pardon from Pence. However, given Pence's recent actions, it looks like Trump has the same prospects as one of the Capitol seditionists. Pence has had enough.

The FBI and Department of Justice no doubt have January 21 marked on their calendars, as do several state jurisdictions. IMO he's going to be buried in criminal and civil lawsuits, unless he seeks refuge with his good buddy Putin.

An ignominious end, self-inflicted.

[Justgrazing]

Blimey impeached twice in little more than a 12 mth .. 

Even the most even handed wordsmiths are gonna struggle to create a glowing résumé when this period is entered into the history books .. I mean how do you put a put a positive spin on someone who's looking at his 2nd impeachment on top of losing the election he tried every trick in the book to win including leaning on state officials to give him the numbers he wanted , inciting a mob to sack the Capitol building to prevent the process of J B's certification that resulted in people dying and world wide condemnation ( an attempted coup anyday of the week that was ) by all who witnessed it ..

 

and all against the backdrop of a C V pandemic ripping across the U S because of his administration's woeful inability to deal with it .. not exactly helped by his lack of understanding of what we are facing and his often contemptuous dismissal and vilification of those who do know more than him about it .. handing out pardons like they are sweets to all his cronies , then throw in the 20,000 odd porkie pies he's transmitted on social media to the point where they were having to flag up a goodly amount of his output with " disputed " disclaimers before collectively having enough and booting him off the platforms rendering him mute for the remainder .. and that might just be a footnote in the history book .. 

 

The U S has a long tradition of naming it's capital aircraft carriers the Nimitz class vessels after past Presidents like Washington , Lincoln , Roosevelt , etc .. There are a number of vessels of the new Gerald R Ford class under construction that will start replacing the Nimitz's .. you'd like to think that tradition will pass over this bloke when the first of those is due to be named .. 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by onthedarkside
formatting

[PatOngo]

Never mind Donald, Emperor for life Xi Jinping and Czar for life Vlad Putin just love what you're doing! And you call Democrats communists???

[johnmell]

Worrying thing is he probarbly would have won the election, had it not been for the pandemic.

[OneMoreFarang]

What did those GOP senators expect when they voted against impeachment the first time?

Did they somehow expect Trump would behave after that? Or was it crystal-clear that Trump would only get worse?

Prosecute the enablers!

[Tug]

Well yea should have done it the first time imo get him out by any means I mean any means enough is enough!

[animalmagic]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Senator Roy Blunt, a member of the Republican leadership, told CBS' "Face the Nation" he did not think Trump should resign but that he should be "very careful over the next 10 days."

Aah, decisive leadership in action!

[PatOngo]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Senator Roy Blunt, a member of the Republican leadership, told CBS' "Face the Nation" he did not think Trump should resign but that he should be "very careful over the next 10 days."

 

Yes, give him another ten days to make ya'll look even stupider!

Edited January 11, 2021 by onthedarkside
trolling comment removed

[Chomper Higgot]

9 days to go, which is 2 days shorter than a Scaramucci and Trump might not even make it.

 

Best of all, if he doesn’t, his future, whether via resignation, impeachment or the 25th would put him in need of a pardon from the VP, who Trump has been cursing out.

 

Stick it out Donald and try the dumb self pardon thing, you know it makes sense.

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, johnmell said:

Worrying thing is he probarbly would have won the election, had it not been for the pandemic.

And I could have won last weeks lottery, but that didn’t happen either.

 

Let’s stick with reality.

 

What a difference an election makes.

[Patong2021]

looks to me that many senators who will have  election in 2 years are worried and want to show they take a stand. Where were they 2 years ago?  Too little and too late.

[Lacessit]

If Trump's Twitter account was still up,  he would still be bleating how UNFAIR it all is. Incapable of recognizing it's his own lies, propaganda and bullying that has brought him down.

If Biden does not have an appetite for electoral reform, there are plenty of other Democrats that do. And they have the numbers now, thanks to Trump.

The Republicans are belatedly realizing they chose to ride on Trump's tiger, and it is now excruciatingly difficult to dismount.

[mtls2005]

But, but, but we were told by republican senators after the first Impeachment trial that the defendant "had learned his lesson"?

 

Just goes to show you what happens when you let criminals walk.

[Eric Loh]

2 hours ago, johnmell said:

Worrying thing is he probarbly would have won the election, had it not been for the pandemic.

The pandemic was not the most important issue in the election. He would have lost for a dozen other reasons which he performed poorly. 

[Henk Langeweg]

Impeachment is a code of Honour to Trump.

[ChouDoufu]

23 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

The pandemic was not the most important issue in the election. He would have lost for a dozen other reasons which he performed poorly. 

 

to many of us 'merkans, the issues aren't that important.  we, many of us, vote straight ticket from president all the way down to dogcatcher, 'cause that's how our families raised us.

 

trump could easily have played the blm/antifa/chiniran cards and won re-election.  we're divided enough, and trump is (well, was...) clever enough to play our differences off, and work the electoral college system to stay in. 

 

he didn't need the popular vote in '16, and would not have needed it in '20.  even with 250K dead due to his botched response at the time of the election, he still got a record number of votes for a losing candidate.  as bad as things have gotten, biden only got 7 million more votes.

 

if it weren't for those meddlin' pathogens...

[Chomper Higgot]

10 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

to many of us 'merkans, the issues aren't that important.  we, many of us, vote straight ticket from president all the way down to dogcatcher, 'cause that's how our families raised us.

 

trump could easily have played the blm/antifa/chiniran cards and won re-election.  we're divided enough, and trump is (well, was...) clever enough to play our differences off, and work the electoral college system to stay in. 

 

he didn't need the popular vote in '16, and would not have needed it in '20.  even with 250K dead due to his botched response at the time of the election, he still got a record number of votes for a losing candidate.  as bad as things have gotten, biden only got 7 million more votes.

 

if it weren't for those meddlin' pathogens...

He lost, end of.

[ChouDoufu]

4 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Trump's only hope now is to resign, and get a presidential pardon from Pence. However, given Pence's recent actions, it looks like Trump has the same prospects as one of the Capitol seditionists. Pence has had enough.

The FBI and Department of Justice no doubt have January 21 marked on their calendars, as do several state jurisdictions. IMO he's going to be buried in criminal and civil lawsuits, unless he seeks refuge with his good buddy Putin.

An ignominious end, self-inflicted.

 

a pardon from pence?  not a chance.

 

after fighting off trump's demands to overturn the election, the commander in chief whips up a mob - complete with gallows erected on site - and sics 'em on congress where pence is presiding.

 

dear leader heads back to the bunker to watch the festivities on tinfoil cable, watching the live stream as his mob surges into the building chanting "hang mike pence!"

 

does the big man send in the cavalry?  no, he refuses.  he doesn't even call to check on his second in command.  what he does do is banish pence's chief of staff from the white house.

 

news reports say the two haven't spoken since the insurrection.

 

pardon is definitely off the table.  i'd say article 25 as well, as that would give trump a "get out of jail free" card, providing evidence for mental imbalance at future trials.

 

pence wants trump to stay in until the end, so he'll have to live with the consequences.

 

 

 

A source close to Pence told Fox News on Wednesday that while Pence was sheltering in "hardened rooms" in the Capitol, President Trump did not reach out to him to check on his status or condemn those who said the vice president "should be executed."

 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/secret-service-investigative-death-threats-against-pence

 

one of those being investigated is trump's friend lin wood, who parlor'd "Get the firing squads ready. Pence goes FIRST."

 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by ChouDoufu

[newnative]

3 hours ago, johnmell said:

Worrying thing is he probarbly would have won the election, had it not been for the pandemic.

   And his moronic, monumental failure to embrace and strongly encourage mail-in voting.  He let Biden get way too far ahead in the race for voters for months before he finally started his race for voters in just the hours of election day.  

[FritsSikkink]

41 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

trump could easily have played the blm/antifa/chiniran cards and won re-election.  we're divided enough, and trump is (well, was...) clever enough to play our differences off, and work the electoral college system to stay in. 

 

Trump isn't clever, most of the voters are dumb.

[Berkshire]

30 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

a pardon from pence?  not a chance.

 

after fighting off trump's demands to overturn the election, the commander in chief whips up a mob - complete with gallows erected on site - and sics 'em on congress where pence is presiding.

 

dear leader heads back to the bunker to watch the festivities on tinfoil cable, watching the live stream as his mob surges into the building chanting "hang mike pence!"

 

does the big man send in the cavalry?  no, he refuses.  he doesn't even call to check on his second in command.  what he does do is banish pence's chief of staff from the white house.

 

news reports say the two haven't spoken since the insurrection.

 

pardon is definitely off the table.  i'd say article 25 as well, as that would give trump a "get out of jail free" card, providing evidence for mental imbalance at future trials.

 

pence wants trump to stay in until the end, so he'll have to live with the consequences.

 

 

 

A source close to Pence told Fox News on Wednesday that while Pence was sheltering in "hardened rooms" in the Capitol, President Trump did not reach out to him to check on his status or condemn those who said the vice president "should be executed."

 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/secret-service-investigative-death-threats-against-pence

 

one of those being investigated is trump's friend lin wood, who parlor'd "Get the firing squads ready. Pence goes FIRST."

 

 

Pence should promise Trump a pardon to get him to resign.  Then once he does, renege.  The ultimate payback. 

[onthedarkside]

A post with a trolling image and some trolling comments have been removed.

 

[Pique Dard]

i'm not an american citizen nor do i live in the usa, yet i could tell for 4 years ago when trump was elected president "this is a disaster!" oh well, trump has succeed to lose the white house, the senat and the house of representants.  good news for the progressive forces, i guess,  so out  of bad comes and hope, it's said.

[mtls2005]

22 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

Pence should promise Trump a pardon to get him to resign.  Then once he does, renege.  The ultimate payback. 

 

This.

 

pence is justifiably angry as the president put his family (wife and daughter, who were with him) in jeopardy.

 

Some of the house members, like boebert who was tweeting the location of the Speaker live, should resign. hawley, cruz, rubio, mo brooks, gohmert should resign as well. I mean if they're really interested in "healing" and "unity"?

[Caldera]

Excellent news. Once a majority for removal is within reach in the Senate, he might finally resign.

 

[ChouDoufu]

46 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Trump isn't clever, most of the voters are dumb.

 

don't confeve clever with honourable or brilliant.

 

trump isn't stupid.  he (with his even clevererer lawyers) has managed to keep out of jail and "winning" in the courts, at least in his business days.

 

he might not be highly edumacated, he might not be classy, but he has a way of manipulating people, wriggling out of trouble, and getting what he wants.

 

don't misunderestimate him, especially now that he senses  danger and possibly is beginning to panic.  the final ten days will be when he lashes out and goes for broke.

 

if he can't win, he's got the potential to bring it all down with him.

 

be afraid.

 

 

[RocketDog]

Republicans are now calling for unity, and for Americans to refrain from retribution against trump. They should have made that soulful plea to trump every single day for the last four years. But they didn't. 

 

While it's true that righteous retribution cannot bring back the dead or heal the physical wounds suffered, the truth is that most Americans have been brutally psychologically assaulted every day by Republicans and Trump for years. Those wounds can only be salved by closure. Closure means seeing trump and his sycophantic supplicants brought to justice, humiliated in public, and prosecuted with every available means. In this effort we should be as single-minded, as persistent, as vengeful, and as remorseless as they have been in prosecuting their seditious agenda during trump's term. 

 

Anything less is sending the wrong message to ourselves and to the world. 

[onthedarkside]

A trolling image and reply have been removed.

[onthedarkside]

A post with trolling comments has been removed.