Pelosi says lawmakers moving forward with impeachment, calls Trump 'imminent threat' to 'our Democracy'

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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) joins ‘Fox Report’ to discuss Dems’ mission to impeach Trump, censure several GOP lawmakers after violent Capitol breach.

The House will be moving forward with a resolution to impeach President Trump, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, referring to the presdient in a letter to colleagues as an "imminent threat" to both the U.S. Constitution and democracy.

In the letter Sunday, Pelosi said the House will act with "great solemnity" and urgency with less than two weeks remaining before Trump is set to leave office.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holds a news conference on the day after pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
(AP)

"In protecting our Constitution and our Democracy, we will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat to both," she said.

"The horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action."

Pelosi said the House will try to force Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to oust Trump by invoking the 25th Amendment. 

On Monday, House leaders will work to swiftly pass legislation to do that. If it is blocked by Republicans, which is almost certain, the House will convene for a full House vote on Tuesday.

Pelosi explained that the resolution calls on Pence "to convene and mobilize the Cabinet to activate the 25th Amendment to declare the President incapable of executing the duties of his office." Under the procedure, the vice president "would immediately exercise powers as acting President," she wrote.

“I think the president has disqualified himself from ever, certainly, serving in office again … I don’t think he is electable in any way.”

Pence is not expected to take the lead in forcing Trump out, although talk has been circulating about the 25th Amendment option for days in Washington.

Next, the House would move to consider the articles of impeachment, Pelosi said. The day for an impeachment vote was not set.

House Democrats were expected to introduce articles of impeachment on Monday. The strategy would be to condemn the president's actions swiftly but delay an impeachment trial in the Senate for 100 days. That would allow President-elect Joe Biden to focus on other priorities as soon as he is inaugurated Jan. 20.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat and a top Biden ally, laid out the ideas Sunday as the country came to grips with the siege at the Capitol by Trump loyalists trying to overturn the election results.

"Let's give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running," Clyburn said.

Trump supporters gesture to U.S. Capitol Police in the hallway outside of the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Washington. 
(AP)

Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania on Sunday joined Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in calling for Trump to "resign and go away as soon as possible."

"I think the president has disqualified himself from ever, certainly, serving in office again," Toomey said. "I don't think he is electable in any way."

Murkowski, who has long voiced her exasperation with Trump's conduct in office, told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday that Trump simply "needs to get out." A third Republican, Sen. Roy Blunt, of Missouri, did not go that far, but on Sunday he warned Trump to be "very careful" in his final days in office.

House leaders, furious after the insurrection, appear determined to act against Trump despite the short timeline.

Late Saturday, Pelosi, D-Calif., convened a conference call with her leadership team and sent a letter to her colleagues reiterating that Trump must be held accountable. She told her caucus, now scattered across the country on a two-week recess, to "be prepared to return to Washington this week" but did not say outright that there would be a vote on impeachment.

"It is absolutely essential that those who perpetrated the assault on our democracy be held accountable," Pelosi wrote. "There must be a recognition that this desecration was instigated by the President."

Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said an impeachment trial could not begin under the current calendar before Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

Clyburn said that Pelosi "will make the determination as to when is the best time" to send articles of impeachment to the Senate if and when they are passed by the House.

Potentially complicating Pelosi's decision about impeachment was what it meant for Biden and the beginning of his presidency. While reiterating that he had long viewed Trump as unfit for office, Biden on Friday sidestepped a question about impeachment, saying what Congress did "is for them to decide."

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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