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Some L.I. officials call for Trump’s removal from office through impeachment, 25th Amendment

Robert Pelaez
Some Democratic officials from Long Island called for President Trump to be removed from office after protestors invaded the Capitol building Wednesday afternoon. (Photo by Stephen Romano)

Democratic officials across Long Island and New York have called for President Donald Trump to be removed from office through impeachment or invoking the 25th Amendment.

Officials including U.S. Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) and Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Jay Jacobs, Democratic chairman for the state and Nassau County, assailed the president after the Capitol was invaded by Trump supporters last Wednesday afternoon.

A violent mob assaulted the Capitol after a rally at which Trump called for the crowd to march on the Capitol, repeating his false claims that the election was fraudulent and saying, “You have to show strength.”

Rice and Suozzi were present in the Capitol during the attacks as Congress gathered to certify the general election results from November. Both reported that they and their staff members were safe despite the protesters breaking into the building.

“The President incited a domestic terror attack on the Capitol,” Rice tweeted on Thursday. “He is an imminent threat to our democracy and he needs to be removed from office immediately. The Cabinet must invoke the 25th Amendment.”

The 25th Amendment allows for the vice president and a majority vote of the cabinet to deem the President “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” If enacted, the vice president then takes over for the president.

“President Trump, who must leave office on January 20th, 2021, cannot leave soon enough,” Suozzi said. “I will support any action against him that will hold him accountable for his irresponsible and reprehensible behavior. Whether it is the removal from office by his Cabinet utilizing the 25th Amendment, expedited impeachment, censure, or prosecution after he leaves office.”

Rice and Suozzi voted to impeach Trump in December 2019 over his attempt to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political rival Joe Biden. 

As protesters stormed into the Capitol, two Democratic candidates from Georgia won their runoff elections, giving Democrats control of the Senate. The two elections resulted in Schumer becoming the new Senate majority leader. The Senate is split 50-50 and the Democrats hold control because Vice President-elect Kamala Harris votes in case of a tie.

After the insurrection that unfolded in the Capitol, Schumer implored Vice President Mike Pence or Congress to get involved.

“The quickest and most effective way — it can be done today — to remove this president from office would be for the vice president to immediately invoke the 25th amendment,” Schumer said. “If the vice president and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress must reconvene to impeach President Trump.”

Jacobs called the invasion of the Capitol a “failed coup attempt,” and criticized Trump’s efforts to challenge the Electoral College results. 

“We cannot forget that four people died yesterday in an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that can only be described as a failed coup attempt,” Jacobs said.  “Their deaths, the embarrassment of our whole nation, and the threat to our 244-year-old democracy can only be laid at the feet of President Trump and those who aided and abetted his seditious attempt to undo the results of the 2020 Presidential Election.”

Jacobs called out Republican senators, representatives and members of Trump’s legal team, aside from the President. Jacobs said Trump’s “call to action” on Wednesday was “nothing other than to stop the certification of Joe Biden & Kamala Harris.” 

Jacobs singled out U.S. Reps. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville), Nicole Malliotakis (R, C-Brooklyn, Staten Island), and Chris Jacobs (R-Orchard Park) as being complicit in Trump’s call to action, and demanded all four resign.

“I call on all four to resign today,” Jacobs said. “There are four dead bodies that are testament to how serious those consequences can be.  After doing what they did to support that lie and the narcissistic authoritarian in the White House who wanted to cling to power, none of those Senators or Representatives should ever again have the audacity to place hand over heart and recite the words “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands . . .” 

Republican officials in Nassau County did not advocate Trump’s impeachment or invoking the 25th Amendment but criticized the actions of the President’s supporters.

“I categorically condemn the rioting, violence and vandalism at the U.S. Capitol today,” Nassau County Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said. “The individuals who ‘stormed’ the Capitol should be ashamed of themselves; the ones who committed criminal acts should be prosecuted. Citizens who love America do not act this way.”

“We can debate, discuss and disagree but once the votes are counted whether at the ballot box or in our legislative chambers we must respect one another and move forward as Americans,” Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Garden City) said. “People who resort to violence and vandalism undercut the core of our democracy.”

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