Political Science: What happens if a president loses an election but won't leave the White House? (Trump)
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Senator Josh Hawley to contest the 2020 Electoral College results
The Missouri Republican said on Wednesday that he intends to object to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election when Congress meets in a joint session on January 6 to formally count the Electoral College votes. The move will not alter the result of the 2020 presidential election, according to several reports, but will
The Missouri Republican said on Wednesday that he intends to object to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election when Congress meets in a joint session on January 6 to formally count the Electoral College votes. The move will not alter the result of the 2020 presidential election, according to several reports, but will
This is not going to do a damn thing to stop Biden from coming into the White House also someone need to run against the senator when his reelection time comes because Missouri can flip back to a Democrat.
Raffensperger calls Trump 'just plain wrong' after election call
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media captionDonald Trump: "I just want to find 11,780 votes"
Georgia's top election official Brad Raffensperger has called President Donald Trump's false claims that he won the state in 2020 "just plain wrong".
Mr Raffensperger's comment came after Mr Trump pressured him in a phone call to "find" votes proving his win.
Criticism of Mr Trump's call has been widespread, with some claiming that it amounts to illegal vote tampering.
Republicans fear that the call could undermine their efforts to win two Senate races in Georgia on Tuesday.
If Republicans win both Georgia senate seats in the run-off election, they will retain control of the Senate. If their candidates lose, Democrats will control the Senate, House of Representatives and White House.
"He did most of the talking. We did most of the listening," Mr Raffensperger told ABC News on Monday. "But I did want to make my points that the data that he has is just plain wrong," he said, describing what he told the president's team during the hour-long call on Saturday.
"He had hundreds and hundreds of people he said that were dead that voted. We found two, that's an example of just - he has bad data," he added.
IMAGE COPYRIGHTEPA
image captionBrad Raffensperger previously warned that debunked claims about voting fraud were "hurting our state"
'I just want to find 11,780 votes'
In Saturday's phone call, Mr Trump can be heard alternately cajoling and pressuring Georgia's secretary of state to "recalculate" the vote tally.
"I just want to find 11,780 votes," he said. The number would have given him a total of 2,473,634 votes in the state, one more than Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, who received 2,473,633 votes.
He also accused Mr Raffensperger - a fellow Republican - of shredding ballots and engaging in criminal acts that cost Mr Trump the election. He called the disproven allegations "a criminal offence," adding that it presents "a big risk to you".
Mr Raffensperger responded by pointing out that Mr Trump's campaign has lost several legal challenges in court, saying: "The challenge you have, Mr President, is that the data you have is wrong."
media captionWhat's in store for US President-elect Biden in 2021? Senior North America reporter Anthony Zurcher looks ahead
What has reaction been?
Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris, who was in Georgia on Sunday to campaign for the Democratic senate candidates, called Mr Trump's call "a bold abuse of power".
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, a Democrat, said Mr Trump was "unhinged and dangerous" and that his call to Mr Raffensperger merited "nothing less than a criminal investigation".
Georgia's Republican Lt Governor added to the criticism on Monday, telling CNN: "I am 100% certified to tell you that it was inappropriate. And it certainly did not help the situation."
"It was based on misinformation," continued Geoff Duncan, whose boss Governor Brad Kemp has faced calls from Mr Trump to resign. "It was based on, you know, all types of theories that have been debunked and disproved over the course of the last 10 weeks."
Will it impact Tuesday's election?
The Senate run-offs in Georgia have drawn national attention.
On Monday, Mr Trump, Mr Biden and Vice-president Mike Pence are all holding rallies in the state on behalf of their chosen candidates ahead of Tuesday's vote.
It comes as nearly 3 million Georgia voters - around half of those that voted in the November general election - have already cast their ballots.
Republican Georgia Senator David Perdue, who is fighting to hold his seat in Tuesday's race, has sided with the president.
"To have a statewide elected official, regardless of party, tape without disclosing a conversation - private conversation - with the president of the United States, and then leaking it to the press is disgusting," he told Fox News.
He also dismissed claims of wrongdoing by Mr Trump, saying: "I didn't hear anything in that tape that the president hasn't already said for weeks now since the November election."
Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff said the call was "a direct attack on our democracy," and accused Mr Perdue and fellow Republican Senate candidate Kelly Loeffler of failing to defend "Georgia voters from that kind of assault".
Raphael Warnock, who is also running as a Democrat, called upon Senator Loeffler to "speak out against these unsubstantiated claims of fraud, defend Georgia's elections, and to put Georgia ahead of herself".
During a campaign appearance on Monday, Mrs Loeffler refused to respond to a question about the phone call, instead telling reporters: "My sole focus is on tomorrow's election."
"I am focused on that exclusively because this affects every single Georgian," she added.
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media captionDonald Trump: "I just want to find 11,780 votes"
Georgia's top election official Brad Raffensperger has called President Donald Trump's false claims that he won the state in 2020 "just plain wrong".
Mr Raffensperger's comment came after Mr Trump pressured him in a phone call to "find" votes proving his win.
Criticism of Mr Trump's call has been widespread, with some claiming that it amounts to illegal vote tampering.
Republicans fear that the call could undermine their efforts to win two Senate races in Georgia on Tuesday.
If Republicans win both Georgia senate seats in the run-off election, they will retain control of the Senate. If their candidates lose, Democrats will control the Senate, House of Representatives and White House.
"He did most of the talking. We did most of the listening," Mr Raffensperger told ABC News on Monday. "But I did want to make my points that the data that he has is just plain wrong," he said, describing what he told the president's team during the hour-long call on Saturday.
"He had hundreds and hundreds of people he said that were dead that voted. We found two, that's an example of just - he has bad data," he added.
IMAGE COPYRIGHTEPA
image captionBrad Raffensperger previously warned that debunked claims about voting fraud were "hurting our state"
'I just want to find 11,780 votes'
In Saturday's phone call, Mr Trump can be heard alternately cajoling and pressuring Georgia's secretary of state to "recalculate" the vote tally.
"I just want to find 11,780 votes," he said. The number would have given him a total of 2,473,634 votes in the state, one more than Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, who received 2,473,633 votes.
He also accused Mr Raffensperger - a fellow Republican - of shredding ballots and engaging in criminal acts that cost Mr Trump the election. He called the disproven allegations "a criminal offence," adding that it presents "a big risk to you".
Mr Raffensperger responded by pointing out that Mr Trump's campaign has lost several legal challenges in court, saying: "The challenge you have, Mr President, is that the data you have is wrong."
media captionWhat's in store for US President-elect Biden in 2021? Senior North America reporter Anthony Zurcher looks ahead
What has reaction been?
Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris, who was in Georgia on Sunday to campaign for the Democratic senate candidates, called Mr Trump's call "a bold abuse of power".
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, a Democrat, said Mr Trump was "unhinged and dangerous" and that his call to Mr Raffensperger merited "nothing less than a criminal investigation".
Georgia's Republican Lt Governor added to the criticism on Monday, telling CNN: "I am 100% certified to tell you that it was inappropriate. And it certainly did not help the situation."
"It was based on misinformation," continued Geoff Duncan, whose boss Governor Brad Kemp has faced calls from Mr Trump to resign. "It was based on, you know, all types of theories that have been debunked and disproved over the course of the last 10 weeks."
Will it impact Tuesday's election?
The Senate run-offs in Georgia have drawn national attention.
On Monday, Mr Trump, Mr Biden and Vice-president Mike Pence are all holding rallies in the state on behalf of their chosen candidates ahead of Tuesday's vote.
It comes as nearly 3 million Georgia voters - around half of those that voted in the November general election - have already cast their ballots.
Republican Georgia Senator David Perdue, who is fighting to hold his seat in Tuesday's race, has sided with the president.
"To have a statewide elected official, regardless of party, tape without disclosing a conversation - private conversation - with the president of the United States, and then leaking it to the press is disgusting," he told Fox News.
He also dismissed claims of wrongdoing by Mr Trump, saying: "I didn't hear anything in that tape that the president hasn't already said for weeks now since the November election."
Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff said the call was "a direct attack on our democracy," and accused Mr Perdue and fellow Republican Senate candidate Kelly Loeffler of failing to defend "Georgia voters from that kind of assault".
Raphael Warnock, who is also running as a Democrat, called upon Senator Loeffler to "speak out against these unsubstantiated claims of fraud, defend Georgia's elections, and to put Georgia ahead of herself".
During a campaign appearance on Monday, Mrs Loeffler refused to respond to a question about the phone call, instead telling reporters: "My sole focus is on tomorrow's election."
"I am focused on that exclusively because this affects every single Georgian," she added.
Raffensperger calls Trump 'just plain wrong' after election call
Georgia's top election official says Trump cited "bad data" when he asked him to "find" more votes.
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Georgia election: Donald Trump's phone call fact-checked
By Reality Check team
BBC News
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media captionDonald Trump: "I just want to find 11,780 votes"
US President Donald Trump spent more than an hour on the phone to election officials in Georgia, as he continues to try to overturn the result in the state.
He made a number of accusations of fraud for which he did not provide evidence.
We've fact-checked some of his claims.
Claim 1: 'So dead people voted. And I think the number is close to 5,000 people [in Georgia].'
President Trump and his supporters have repeatedly claimed thousands of votes were cast in states across the country, using the identities of people who had died.
But Georgia's top election official, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, rejected the president's assertion, saying there were just two confirmed cases of votes attributed to dead people.
The president's lawyer Cleta Mitchell, also on the call, responded to this by suggesting they had details of dead people voting.
"There is a universe of people who have the same name and same birth year and died," she told Mr Raffensperger.
However, our previous investigation into a list of "10,000 dead voters" in Michigan found this approach seriously flawed.
Cross-referencing lists of deaths across the US and voters in a particular state produces thousands of matches - with the same name and birth year - both dead and alive.
Our study in Michigan produced a large number of matches even when the month of birth was included.
And we also contacted a sample of these "dead voters" and found them very much alive.
IMAGE COPYRIGHTEPA
image captionMr Trump told Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger: "I just want to find 11,780 votes"
Claim 2: '[There] were thousands and thousands of ballots in a box that was not an official or a sealed box.'
The president is referring to a video taken at a counting facility at the State Farm Arena, in Fulton County, Georgia, suggesting it reveals fraudulent activity by election workers.
The footage shows officials returning to their counting areas and a container with ballots being pulled out from under a table
"When they came back," Mr Trump said in his phone call, "they didn't go to their station.
"They went to the apron wrapped around the table, under which were thousands and thousands of ballots in a box that was not an official or a sealed box."
Election officials have previously responded to this accusation, saying the footage shows normal practice.
Gabriel Sterling, the voting system implementation manager in Georgia, tweeted state investigators who had watched the whole video had found nothing untoward.
IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES
image captionGeorgia's voting systems manager Gabriel Sterling has pushed back against the president's claims
An official investigation found "the entire security footage revealed there were no mystery ballots that were brought in from an unknown location and hidden under tables as has been reported by some".
Fulton County elections director Richard Barron said workers "put those ballot bins under their workspace because it's the most convenient place to put those things".
And state authorities said there was nothing unofficial about the boxes containing the ballots.
Claim 3: 'They ran out because of a water-main break. And there was no water main, there was nothing. There was no break.'
Mr Trump is referring to a pause in the counting at the same location in Fulton County.
At the time, election officers issued a press statement saying a water leak had affected a room where absentee ballots were being tabulated.
An official investigation later clarified "what was initially reported as a water leak... was actually a urinal that had overflowed".
The report said this had not affected the counting of votes by Fulton County which resumed later that evening.
President Trump also said when election workers had returned "there were no Republican poll watchers - actually, there were no Democrat poll watchers".
This is true - but the official investigation found they had been neither asked to leave nor prevented from returning.
Frances Watson, chief investigator for the Georgia secretary of state, said: "Nobody gave them any advice on what they should do.
"And it was still open for them or the public to come back in to view at whatever time they wanted to."
Claim 4: 'You had out-of-state voters - they voted in Georgia but they were from out of state - of 4,925.'
Ryan Germany, a lawyer representing Georgia's secretary of state's office during the call, has rejected this claim.
IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES
"Every one we've been through are people that lived in Georgia, moved to a different state but then moved back to Georgia legitimately," he said.
The numbers given by Mr Trump's team regarding these supposed out-of-state voters were "not accurate", Mr Germany added.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday's Senate run-off election in Georgia, Mr Raffensperger said "qualified Georgians and only Georgians are allowed to vote in our elections" and out-of-state voters would not be tolerated.
And he warned anyone attempting to game the system: "We will find you and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."
Claim 5: "They're shredding ballots. And you should look at that very carefully. Because that's so illegal."
The president mentioned what he said was the alleged shredding of "thousands" of "corrupt" ballot papers, implying that evidence of what he believes was voting malpractice had been deliberately destroyed.
In November, some social media posts claimed to show shredding companies destroying what were said to be ballot papers.
An investigation into the shredding of papers in Georgia's Cobb County concluded that it was part of a "routine clean-up operation" and the documents disposed of were not actual votes "relevant to the election or the re-tally".
These were old mailing labels and other papers with voter information, old e-mails and duplicate absentee ballot forms.
Claim 6: "We have not gone through your Dominion [voting machines], so we can't give them blessing. I mean, in other states, we think we found tremendous corruption with Dominion machines..."
The president has made various allegations about widespread electronic voting fraud in several swing states.
He claims that the Dominion voting systems, which are widely used across the US, including in Georgia, led to millions of Trump votes being flipped to his rival Joe Biden.
But there is no evidence of this in Georgia or anywhere else, and several lawsuits regarding the claims have been rejected by courts.
Dominion Voting Systems have denied their machines were in any way compromised.
The allegations were widely covered by some right-wing US news networks, but Fox News and Newsmax have since had to issue corrections stating that there is no evidence that the machines manipulated votes in the election.
www.bbc.com
By Reality Check team
BBC News
Published1 hour ago
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media captionDonald Trump: "I just want to find 11,780 votes"
US President Donald Trump spent more than an hour on the phone to election officials in Georgia, as he continues to try to overturn the result in the state.
He made a number of accusations of fraud for which he did not provide evidence.
We've fact-checked some of his claims.
Claim 1: 'So dead people voted. And I think the number is close to 5,000 people [in Georgia].'
President Trump and his supporters have repeatedly claimed thousands of votes were cast in states across the country, using the identities of people who had died.
But Georgia's top election official, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, rejected the president's assertion, saying there were just two confirmed cases of votes attributed to dead people.
The president's lawyer Cleta Mitchell, also on the call, responded to this by suggesting they had details of dead people voting.
"There is a universe of people who have the same name and same birth year and died," she told Mr Raffensperger.
However, our previous investigation into a list of "10,000 dead voters" in Michigan found this approach seriously flawed.
Cross-referencing lists of deaths across the US and voters in a particular state produces thousands of matches - with the same name and birth year - both dead and alive.
Our study in Michigan produced a large number of matches even when the month of birth was included.
And we also contacted a sample of these "dead voters" and found them very much alive.
IMAGE COPYRIGHTEPA
image captionMr Trump told Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger: "I just want to find 11,780 votes"
Claim 2: '[There] were thousands and thousands of ballots in a box that was not an official or a sealed box.'
The president is referring to a video taken at a counting facility at the State Farm Arena, in Fulton County, Georgia, suggesting it reveals fraudulent activity by election workers.
The footage shows officials returning to their counting areas and a container with ballots being pulled out from under a table
"When they came back," Mr Trump said in his phone call, "they didn't go to their station.
"They went to the apron wrapped around the table, under which were thousands and thousands of ballots in a box that was not an official or a sealed box."
Election officials have previously responded to this accusation, saying the footage shows normal practice.
Gabriel Sterling, the voting system implementation manager in Georgia, tweeted state investigators who had watched the whole video had found nothing untoward.
IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES
image captionGeorgia's voting systems manager Gabriel Sterling has pushed back against the president's claims
An official investigation found "the entire security footage revealed there were no mystery ballots that were brought in from an unknown location and hidden under tables as has been reported by some".
Fulton County elections director Richard Barron said workers "put those ballot bins under their workspace because it's the most convenient place to put those things".
And state authorities said there was nothing unofficial about the boxes containing the ballots.
Claim 3: 'They ran out because of a water-main break. And there was no water main, there was nothing. There was no break.'
Mr Trump is referring to a pause in the counting at the same location in Fulton County.
At the time, election officers issued a press statement saying a water leak had affected a room where absentee ballots were being tabulated.
An official investigation later clarified "what was initially reported as a water leak... was actually a urinal that had overflowed".
The report said this had not affected the counting of votes by Fulton County which resumed later that evening.
President Trump also said when election workers had returned "there were no Republican poll watchers - actually, there were no Democrat poll watchers".
This is true - but the official investigation found they had been neither asked to leave nor prevented from returning.
Frances Watson, chief investigator for the Georgia secretary of state, said: "Nobody gave them any advice on what they should do.
"And it was still open for them or the public to come back in to view at whatever time they wanted to."
Claim 4: 'You had out-of-state voters - they voted in Georgia but they were from out of state - of 4,925.'
Ryan Germany, a lawyer representing Georgia's secretary of state's office during the call, has rejected this claim.
IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES
"Every one we've been through are people that lived in Georgia, moved to a different state but then moved back to Georgia legitimately," he said.
The numbers given by Mr Trump's team regarding these supposed out-of-state voters were "not accurate", Mr Germany added.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday's Senate run-off election in Georgia, Mr Raffensperger said "qualified Georgians and only Georgians are allowed to vote in our elections" and out-of-state voters would not be tolerated.
And he warned anyone attempting to game the system: "We will find you and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."
Claim 5: "They're shredding ballots. And you should look at that very carefully. Because that's so illegal."
The president mentioned what he said was the alleged shredding of "thousands" of "corrupt" ballot papers, implying that evidence of what he believes was voting malpractice had been deliberately destroyed.
In November, some social media posts claimed to show shredding companies destroying what were said to be ballot papers.
An investigation into the shredding of papers in Georgia's Cobb County concluded that it was part of a "routine clean-up operation" and the documents disposed of were not actual votes "relevant to the election or the re-tally".
These were old mailing labels and other papers with voter information, old e-mails and duplicate absentee ballot forms.
Claim 6: "We have not gone through your Dominion [voting machines], so we can't give them blessing. I mean, in other states, we think we found tremendous corruption with Dominion machines..."
The president has made various allegations about widespread electronic voting fraud in several swing states.
He claims that the Dominion voting systems, which are widely used across the US, including in Georgia, led to millions of Trump votes being flipped to his rival Joe Biden.
But there is no evidence of this in Georgia or anywhere else, and several lawsuits regarding the claims have been rejected by courts.
Dominion Voting Systems have denied their machines were in any way compromised.
The allegations were widely covered by some right-wing US news networks, but Fox News and Newsmax have since had to issue corrections stating that there is no evidence that the machines manipulated votes in the election.
Georgia election: Donald Trump's phone call fact-checked
The president made a string of claims in a phone call with officials in Georgia as he disputes the state's election result.
www.bbc.com
Pence should consider invoking 25th Amendment to remove Trump, business ally of the president says
The National Association of Manufacturers, a Trump ally, wants Vice President Pence to consider invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president.
www.usatoday.com
Pence should consider invoking 25th Amendment to remove Trump, business ally of the president says
Nathan Bomey
USA TODAY
0:01
0:31
One of President Donald Trump's major business supporters is calling on Vice President Mike Pence to consider launching a constitutional process that could result in the president's removal from office.
National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons said Pence should "seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy."
His comments came as pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., clashing with police, breaking windows and making their way into the Senate chambers.
“This is not law and order. This is chaos. It is mob rule. It is dangerous. This is sedition and should be treated as such," Timmons said in a statement. "The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy. Anyone indulging conspiracy theories to raise campaign dollars is complicit."
The 25th Amendment outlines procedures for ousting the president from office when the vice president and a majority of the president's executive officers or another body designated by Congress can take steps to declare the commander-in-chief unable to serve.
“This is not the vision of America that manufacturers believe in and work so hard to defend," Timmons said.
Should Trump be silenced?:Calls grow for social media platforms to quiet Trump as rioters storm US Capitol
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The National Association of Manufacturers has been a close ally of the president during his presidency, hosting him for a speech in 2017, hailing his tax reform moves and praising his trade decisions.
Pence himself spoke to NAM's 2020 Winter Board of Directors meeting on Feb. 14, praising Timmons and his staff for making "an incredible difference in the life of this nation."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
"Across America today, millions of manufacturing workers are helping our nation fight the deadly pandemic that has already taken hundreds of thousands of lives," Timmons said. "We are trying to rebuild an economy and save and rebuild lives. But none of that will matter if our leaders refuse to fend off this attack on America and our democracy—because our very system of government, which underpins our very way of life, will crumble.”
Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.
What to Know About the 25th Amendment
By Laurence Arnold | Bloomberg
Jan. 6, 2021 at 7:47 p.m. EST
The 25th amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides an avenue for a president to be removed from the helm of government -- temporarily or for good, willingly or not -- when necessary under extraordinary circumstances. At times during President Donald Trump’s tumultuous term, his critics have cited the amendment approvingly, even wishfully, while reviewing what they consider his erratic behavior. It was discussed anew after Trump was diagnosed with Covid-19. The siege of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters has again raised the topic, even with Trump in his final weeks as president.
1. What does the 25th amendment say?
It clarifies that the vice president becomes acting president when a president becomes unable to carry out his duties -- when, say, the president undergoes major surgery. It also provides that a president can be removed if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet determines he or she is “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the office. If the president contests the finding, and the vice president and cabinet persist, Congress can order the president’s removal by a two-thirds vote in both chambers.
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2. Why does this exist?
To address some questions about presidential and vice presidential succession that the Constitution didn’t specifically answer. For instance, when President William Harrison died in office in 1841, there was a debate over whether Vice President John Tyler would become acting president, or president, or officially remain vice president. (Tyler decided on his own to have a judge administer the presidential oath of office.) The 25th amendment was approved by Congress in 1965, and ratified by the requisite three-quarters of U.S. states by 1967, in response to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the immediate confusion following the shooting of Kennedy, there were tense questions about who would run the country should he survive but only in a semiconscious or otherwise grievously wounded condition.
3. Has the amendment been used before?
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Never to permanently remove a sitting president. Presidents have voluntarily invoked it to temporarily hand control to their vice presidents. George W. Bush did it twice in order to undergo medical procedures, and Ronald Reagan once, for colon surgery. The amendment also covers instances in which the vice presidency becomes vacant and has been used twice for that purpose. (Before the amendment took effect, the U.S. occasionally went long periods without any vice president.) In 1973, after Spiro Agnew was forced to resign because of tax-evasion charges, President Richard Nixon nominated Representative Gerald Ford to become vice president. He was approved by the House and Senate. After Nixon resigned the following year, Ford became president and nominated Nelson Rockefeller, a former governor of New York, as vice president. He was confirmed by Congress.
4. Why is it coming up now?
Amid the backlash against Trump for inciting protesters over his election defeat, some are calling for his removal before his term ends on Jan. 20. Vice President Mike Pence “should seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy,” said National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons. A few Democratic members of Congress also urged Trump’s removal.
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5. How did the amendment come up previously under Trump?
The New York Times and ABC News reported in 2018 that the then-deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, had discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the amendment to remove Trump from office. (Rosenstein denied the account and told the Times he saw “no basis” to invoke the amendment.) Weeks earlier, the Times had published an op-ed by a person identified only as “a senior official in the Trump administration” who wrote, “Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until -- one way or another -- it’s over.”
When can the 25th Amendment be used against a president?
Charlie Crist and others have suggested that it is time to remove Donald Trump.
When can the 25th Amendment be used against a president?
Charlie Crist and others have suggested that it is time to remove Donald Trump.
President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. [ JACQUELYN MARTIN | AP ]
By PolitiFact
Published 3 hours ago
Editor’s note: Portions of this story were originally published by PolitiFact in 2017.
Back in 2017, a Democratic lawmaker tweeted: “POTUS is showing signs of erratic behavior and mental instability that place the country in grave danger. Time to invoke the 25th Amendment.” Similar tweets have gone out Wednesday as President Donald Trump seemed to encourage insurgence in the nation’s capitol.
RELATED: Charlie Crist: Remove Donald Trump from office with the 25th Amendment
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How does it work?
What does the 25th Amendment say?
The 25th Amendment, added to the Constitution in 1967, sought to resolve several thorny issues of presidential and vice presidential power. It creates a succession plan for when these top two positions go vacant. It also allows the president to declare himself unable to fulfill his duties and transfer power to the vice president.
However, we’re mostly interested in the 25th Amendment’s fourth and final section, which allows someone other than the president to make a finding of presidential disability.
Section four authorizes the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet, or another body as determined by lawmakers, to declare a president “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Doing so would then elevate the vice president to the position of acting president.
The president can restore his powers by declaring that no inability exists. However, the same body that initially transferred power to the vice president can respond by essentially doubling down on their declaration that the president is unable to discharge his duties.
Then, if Congress, by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, agrees that the president is unable to serve, the vice president continues to act as president. Such a move could permanently strip a president of his powers — hence, why some legal analysts refer to section four as the “involuntary removal mechanism.”
What did the authors intend?
The push for Congress to formalize a blueprint for handling presidential disability gained traction after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963 (though lawmakers had first considered it much earlier in American history).
“The assassination of President Kennedy ... produced a flurry of additional proposals dealing with the subject,” John D. Feerick wrote in a 1995 article in the Wake Forest Law Review. “These proposals were influenced by the sense at that time that, if Kennedy had lived, the country would have had to deal with the problem of presidential inability in a most tragic setting.”
As congressional hearings unfolded, little controversy surrounded the amendment’s first three sections, according to Feerick. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the real debate centered on when someone other than the president could declare him or her to be incapacitated.
The amendment’s principal author, Sen. Birch Bayh, D.-Ind., embraced an understanding that presidential inability would encompass both physical and mental inability, said Joel Goldstein, a law professor at St. Louis University, who’s closely studied the congressional record.
The formulation he adopted was put forth by Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.Y., who said presidential inability “involves physical or mental inability to make or communicate his decision regarding his capacity and physical or mental inability to exercise the powers and duties of his office.”
Another important architect of the amendment, Rep. Richard Poff, R-Va., held a similar view, according to Goldstein.
Poff said section four not only applied when the president, due to accident or illness, was unconscious or otherwise unable to make or communicate a decision, but also when “the President, by reason of mental debility, is unable or unwilling to make any rational decision, including particularly the decision to stand aside.”
On July 6, 1965, Congress formally proposed the 25th Amendment, and the necessary 38 states ratified it Feb. 10, 1967.
Legal experts told us the drafters used intentionally vague and open-ended language (i.e., a president who is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”) because they recognized they couldn’t predict every scenario in which a president could be deemed disabled.
But despite the definition’s fuzziness, Goldstein said “the record makes clear that section four was not intended as a means of removing the president simply because he or she makes an unpopular decision.”
The framers used deliberately broad language to allow for flexibility. But the record clearly shows they intended section four of the 25th Amendment to apply when a president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office” due to either physical or mental inability, and not principally as a strategy for ousting an unpopular president.
After a day that saw the U.S. Capitol mobbed by Trump supporters and the temporary suspension of Trump from Twitter and Facebook for continuing to spread fraudulent information about the 2020 election, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert pulled an audible and aired a live episode to unpack the events of the day. In his nine-minute monologue, an emotional Colbert revealed how deeply the riots at the Capitol have impacted him. “I’ve rarely been as upset as I am tonight,” Colbert said, “and I’m sure you are too.” He goes on to ask one question of Republicans that supported Trump, specifically the Republicans in the joint session of Congress that convened today: “Have you had enough?” After lambasting Republicans for “five years of coddling this president’s fascist rhetoric,” Colbert suggests Wednesday’s deadly riot was almost a foregone conclusion due. “Who could have seen this coming? Everyone? Even dummies like me,” Colbert says. “This is the most shocking, most tragic, least surprising thing I’ve ever seen.” Yeah, no kidding.
Colbert continues his rebuke of Wednesday’s riot, calling out “the Republican senators that let this happen,” specifically Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, for “raising his stupid fist to the mob outside the Capitol” in a show of solidarity with the rioters. “Obviously he has to keep his fist closed,” Colbert quipped, “because if he opened it you’d see all the blood on his hands.” Colbert also called out Fox News for “years of peddling his conspiracy theories.” “It’s a horrifying day that will go down in U.S. history, however much longer that is,” Colbert laments. You can watch Colbert’s full monologue above.
Several White House officials resign following violence at US Capitol
Several White House officials have handed in their resignations after a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. President Trump’s former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and top European and Russian official on the National Security Council Ryan Tully were among those who resigned on Thursday. First lady Melania Trump's chief of staff Stephanie Grisham, White House Social Secretary Rickie Niceta and Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews all quit on Wednesday.
"Stephanie Grisham, the chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump and former White House press secretary, was the first announced her resignation. Deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews resigned a short time later, as did White House social secretary Rickie Niceta, a White House official confirmed." — The Hill
Several White House officials have handed in their resignations after a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. President Trump’s former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and top European and Russian official on the National Security Council Ryan Tully were among those who resigned on Thursday. First lady Melania Trump's chief of staff Stephanie Grisham, White House Social Secretary Rickie Niceta and Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews all quit on Wednesday.
"Stephanie Grisham, the chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump and former White House press secretary, was the first announced her resignation. Deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews resigned a short time later, as did White House social secretary Rickie Niceta, a White House official confirmed." — The Hill
Pro-Trump mob chases lone Black police officer up stairs in Capitol – video
A journalist captured the moment a lone Black police officer was confronted by pro-Trump supporters who had stormed into the US Capitol in what lawmakers condemned as an attempted insurrection aimed at overturning the results of an American election
Pro-Trump mob chases lone Black police officer up stairs in Capitol – video
A journalist captured the moment a lone Black police officer was confronted by pro-Trump supporters who had stormed into the US Capitol in what lawmakers condemned as an attempted insurrection aimed at overturning the results of an American electionwww.theguardian.com
For the life of me, I don't know WHY he didn't crack Q across the face with that baton.
You absolutely HAVE to make the boldest muhfucka in the pack feel the pain. That is a MUST!
While the next two in the crowd are picking Q up off the floor bleeding and swelling up, others are gonna have to ask themselves a couple of questions.
For the life of me, I don't know WHY he didn't crack Q across the face with that baton.
While the next two in the crowd are picking Q up off the floor bleeding and swelling up, others are gonna have to ask themselves a couple of questions.
I understand bro..
but the amount of mental gymnastics to even BE in law enforcement as a Black Person?
then DEFENDING this moron in chief?
I cannot criticize him
Cause if that camera wasn't there?
and the amount of time it took for "backup" to come?
Man I really can't criticize anything this brother did.
I think that he didn't strike the CAC for the same reason that whole convoy of Police vehicles rolled up a couple of blocks away and weren't dispersed for what seemed like two hours.
They'd been briefed on what optics were acceptable to be caught by the media. They also didn't want the appearance of the military (NG) having to put down this insurrection and it's why Pelosi didn't postpone the certification until the next day or something...optics...how would it look to the country and the rest of the world who are watching this shit show unfold.
These CACs were handled with kid gloves.
I can only imagine the after-action reviews (DOD) that occurred post BLM protests with military involvement at Trump's behest.
agreed on all that
Pelosi calls for Capitol Police chief to be fired; House SAA to resign
Lawmakers began outlining their plans to review Capitol Police in light of Wednesday's attack on the Capitol and the department's actions.
Former Capitol police chief: ‘They needed more personnel’ to control rioters
Terry Gainer, who served both as chief of Capitol police and the Senate sergeant-at-arms, and NBC News analyst Bill Bratton, former New York City police commissioner, join TODAY to discuss Wednesday’s violence and mayhem in Washington. Gainer says there were not enough officers on the scene...
George Clooney Says Riot Put Trump Family "Into the Dustbin of History"
5:46 PM PST 1/7/2021 by Trilby Beresford
The actor commented on the violent scene at U.S. Capitol Hill during an upcoming episode of KCRW's 'The Business,' declaring "That name will now forever be associated with insurrection."
During an upcoming episode of KCRW's The Business weekly podcast, George Clooney commented briefly on the recent riots that took place at U.S. Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.
Referencing the way that pro-Trump supporters conducted themselves at the scene, Clooney told podcast host Kim Masters — who is The Hollywood Reporter's Editor-at-Large —"It's devastating to watch the people's house being desecrated in that way."
The Midnight Sky actor and director added, "But it is also a tremendous overreach in a way — everybody kept waiting for, what's the one thing, the straw that breaks the camel's back and it just seemed like that line just kept getting moved and moved and moved and outrage didn't even matter anymore, even to the point of calling the Secretary of State in Georgia and pressuring him. None of that seemed to matter. This mattered."
The actor went on to emphasize, "This puts Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. Ivanka, all of them, into the dustbin of history. That name will now forever be associated with insurrection." He then referenced how former White House Chief of Staff General Kelly said recently that if he was in the cabinet he would have voted for the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. "This is a big, big difference," said Clooney. "If this is what it takes to set us on the right path, I think that, not that it's worth it, it's not worth it in any shape or form, but at least we should find something hopeful to come out of some of this disaster."
As the incident was taking place at the Capitol on Wednesday, Hollywood stars such as Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Stiller, Sarah Silverman, Josh Gad and Cynthia Nixon took to social media to weigh in and call for immediate action to be taken. Tech companies including Facebook, Twitter and Twitch responded by temporarily freezing his accounts in the wake of the chaos.
On Thursday, former First Lady Michelle Obama released a lengthy statement, in which she expressed concern for the state of extremism and security in the U.S. "Now is the time for those who voted for this president to see the reality of what they’ve supported — and publicly and forcefully rebuke him and the actions of that mob," said Obama.
The full episode of KCRW's The Business with Clooney will post on Jan. 15.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
5:46 PM PST 1/7/2021 by Trilby Beresford
The actor commented on the violent scene at U.S. Capitol Hill during an upcoming episode of KCRW's 'The Business,' declaring "That name will now forever be associated with insurrection."
During an upcoming episode of KCRW's The Business weekly podcast, George Clooney commented briefly on the recent riots that took place at U.S. Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.
Referencing the way that pro-Trump supporters conducted themselves at the scene, Clooney told podcast host Kim Masters — who is The Hollywood Reporter's Editor-at-Large —"It's devastating to watch the people's house being desecrated in that way."
The Midnight Sky actor and director added, "But it is also a tremendous overreach in a way — everybody kept waiting for, what's the one thing, the straw that breaks the camel's back and it just seemed like that line just kept getting moved and moved and moved and outrage didn't even matter anymore, even to the point of calling the Secretary of State in Georgia and pressuring him. None of that seemed to matter. This mattered."
The actor went on to emphasize, "This puts Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. Ivanka, all of them, into the dustbin of history. That name will now forever be associated with insurrection." He then referenced how former White House Chief of Staff General Kelly said recently that if he was in the cabinet he would have voted for the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. "This is a big, big difference," said Clooney. "If this is what it takes to set us on the right path, I think that, not that it's worth it, it's not worth it in any shape or form, but at least we should find something hopeful to come out of some of this disaster."
As the incident was taking place at the Capitol on Wednesday, Hollywood stars such as Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Stiller, Sarah Silverman, Josh Gad and Cynthia Nixon took to social media to weigh in and call for immediate action to be taken. Tech companies including Facebook, Twitter and Twitch responded by temporarily freezing his accounts in the wake of the chaos.
On Thursday, former First Lady Michelle Obama released a lengthy statement, in which she expressed concern for the state of extremism and security in the U.S. "Now is the time for those who voted for this president to see the reality of what they’ve supported — and publicly and forcefully rebuke him and the actions of that mob," said Obama.
The full episode of KCRW's The Business with Clooney will post on Jan. 15.
George Clooney Says Riot Put Trump Family “Into the Dustbin of History”
During an upcoming episode of KCRW's 'The Business' weekly podcast, George Clooney commented briefly on the recent riots that took place at U.S. Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
Yep. Brotha man had his sidepiece and it never left his holster.
As far as I'm concerned, that man is a goddamned hero for showing the restraint he did under those circumstances. They should be using this clip of him as an instruction video to all police officers in how to handle black folks.
Jon Cherry/Getty Images
Reporter Robert Moore and producer Sophie Alexander captured some of Wednesday's most poignant footage as the first crew to enter the U.S. Capitol with pro-Trump rioters.
As thousands of Trump supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, attempting to derail Congress' confirmation of Joe Biden's presidential victory, a three-person crew from ITV News stood at the very center of the mob, capturing some of the day's most significant footage.
Reporter Robert Moore, producer Sophie Alexander and cameraman Mark Davey were the first TV crew to enter the Capitol building with the rioters, witnessing their shattering of windows and conducting on-the-ground interviews as the action unfolded.
Following a day that will surely go down in American history, Moore and Alexander spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about their firsthand experience, the benefits of being a British station amid a "fake news" crowd and their biggest takeaways.
READ MORE
"Anarchy In The U.S.A.": World Reacts With Horror After Trump Mob Storms Capitol
Starting off, what was it like to be there yesterday?
Robert Moore: It was very dramatic, but I think what was most striking to us is none of this comes, or should have come, as a surprise. This was a highly organized protest that the president himself had been speaking about and encouraged people to turn out for. So I think one of the questions we have is why the Capitol Hill police were so ill prepared for what happened. Even as I was joining the crowd that was going into the congressional complex, breaking through doors and windows, I was struck by how this seemed almost inevitable — this is exactly the culmination of what we've been reporting on for so many years. It blended together the conspiracy theories that have been propagated by the president and the visceral views of so many Trump supporters.
Sophie Alexander: I don't think I quite realized the enormity of the situation until I woke up this morning. We work in news, this is what we do, this is what we're good at; however, yesterday was obviously unlike anything I've ever covered in my lifetime, in my career. I really think the enormity of it, and particularly what we achieved, the three of us getting what none of the other U.S. networks did, I really think that only sunk in this morning.
How did your day unfold, with you ending up right in the middle of that?
Moore: As a small foreign broadcast team here in Washington, ITV News prides itself on close-up, fly-on-the-wall type of reporting. So we were with the crowd earlier at the White House, we followed them to Capitol Hill, and we just happened to be on the left-hand side of the inauguration stage that's been built for Joe Biden. There was a little window, that little corridor, that led up some marbled steps and we noticed that a dozen or so very animated, angry, passionate protesters had found a little route up there that appeared to be unprotected by the Capitol Hill police. So they went up there, we followed them, and then we noticed that they were climbing through a window and had broken open a door right into the congressional building itself. They were charging through and we followed with them. And we decided just to tell our reporting as it unfolded.
I was very aware that my journalistic objective was to hear the voices of passionate people, whatever side of the political divide they're on. So I was keen to talk to and hear as much of their voices and their raw audio as possible. Our journalistic objective almost immediately came into view: "Let's be a fly on the wall. Let's just follow and track the passion as they enter the building." What was so striking for us was their chant wasn't insurrectionary or revolutionary. It was "Our house, our house." In other words, they felt almost like they'd arrived at their own home — this sense that the U.S. Capitol belonged to them was a very real and very striking feature of the day.
This is a group of people that typically opposes mainstream media. Did you face any harassment or violence from the rioters?
Moore: There is a lot of hostility from that crowd towards the media, all elements of it. But their real dislike is of American media. So once we've explained to them that we're an overseas TV network they were, if not, friendly. They didn't regard us as a hostile presence. They understood that we were trying to project their voices, if you like. I wouldn't say we ever were seen as their allies in those kind of dramatic and chaotic moments, but they didn't see us as the enemy and so that allowed us to track with them, follow them to Nancy Pelosi's office — which they were ransacking — and at no point did they regard us as a target. Their anger is so targeted at the Washington establishment that we were almost ignored, frankly, in the drama and chaos of the moment.
We've been reporting on the Trump movement for four-plus years now and we often go to the rallies and we often mix with them. We explain to them that Britain is also a country going through political turmoil with Brexit, just like the United States. Many of them are veterans and we point out that British and American soldiers are fighting and dying on battlefields and have done around the world. We try and connect with them in a way that Trump supporters understand, that Britain is an interested observer in America but doesn't have a stake in which side is covered. We want to hear all voices. And that's a way that we use [that], and we used it yesterday, to reassure those who were in the Capitol Building making their protests that we weren't the enemy. We were literally reporters trying to amplify their voices.
Alexander Being a British outlet does hugely help — one, the accent, and two, we say, "Listen, we're British television, this is not going to be shown in America, but we are here to report on what is happening and we're listening to you." There's so much distrust of the media in America at the moment, it's really very sad. However, we are not one of the main targets of that hatred, and as soon as we say we're British, it does change the tone of the conversation — thankfully, because at times, it was quite threatening.
Were there moments you feared for your safety? You are right alongside the tear gas at times.
Alexander: We did feel the effects of the tear gas, my eyes are still stinging this morning to be honest with you. I think as a producer, my first instinct is to keep the team safe, that's my priority. Keep the team safe, and cover the story as well as we can while keeping everyone safe. Truthfully, the anger and the hatred that I witnessed yesterday was not directed at us. It was directed at members of the House, so we were able to report and witness from the middle of it but without fearing for our safety too much.
Is there a moment from the day that really stands out to you?
Moore: That moment when the crowd jumped through the window, broke through the door — and then it was almost like they were stunned that they'd achieved that. They were looking at the marble statues; they were looking at the immaculate passageways and corridors of Congress; and they almost couldn't believe that they'd achieved that and that they'd broken in. It was that almost naive, stunned look on their faces and their joy that they'd sort of humiliated Washington's establishment. The image of wonder that was on their faces, their surprise at having outwitted and outmaneuvered Capitol Hill police officers, I think was the thing that struck me most. And then that blend of people who were there — wild militia men, Trump supporters, far right, people who have just been caught up in the emotion and joined the crowd. It was a real blend of some of the stranger characters in American protest movements.
Alexander: I think there were two moments. One when we were standing on, believe it or not, the inauguration stage where Joe Biden will be inaugurated in less than two weeks. Suddenly there was this roar from the mob around us, and we realized that they'd managed to break the doors of the scaffolding down and they had free rein to just run towards the Capitol, absolutely no police holding them back. Secondly, when we were actually inside the Capitol, we heard a man on the phone behind us who was obviously calling his loved one and he said, "Whatever happens today, just please know that I love you and tell the boys to do what they believe is right." He was prepared to die for what he believed was right, he really thought it could lead to that.
What did you see in terms of the police's handling of the riot?
Alexander: The police were entirely overwhelmed and underprepared. Before the mob had managed to actually get onto the inauguration stage and break into the Capitol, I counted maybe 12 police trying to hold back a crowd of hundreds, and that was in no way their fault. They were not prepared. However, I would say the responses of the police at the beginning was quite inadequate. But what would we prefer, do we want them to be firing live rounds into the crowd? No, we don't. So I think they did the best of their ability while being completely underprepared.
There was a big debate in U.S. media over what to call these people — protestors, rioters, terrorists. Did you have any discussions of how to deal with that?
Moore: I'm not using phrases like "mobs," and I'm certainly not using the word "terrorists," which strikes me as absurd. I think "protesters" is valid, I think that's the one that is kind of value neutral, if you like. They are protesters, they're protesting the establishment. I don't think it helps anybody to marginalize these people or to ridicule them or to suggest that they're a greater danger to the republic than they are. I think as reporters we need to step back and recognize that America faces this deep polarization, this schism, at the heart of the country. I think our business is not to mock or to judge either side. It's easy to believe they're a threat to democracy, but it's also important to understand that they believe they are defending the Republic, not threatening it.
What was your biggest takeaway from being immersed in this crowd and talking to rioters in a way that most new stations weren't?
Moore: The thing that resonated with me most was although it had an insurrectionary, almost revolutionary, feel, this wasn't an anarchic crowd. This wasn't anarchy that we witnessed, although that is somewhat being portrayed here for political reasons. What they were saying to us, to cameras, is, "We're here to save the Republic, not to assault it." So I suppose, in a paradoxical sense, my real takeaway is the sincerity of the views that they hold.
They are deeply invested in President Trump and we can all pass judgment on that, but what was clear to us is that they do believe that this election was stolen, and have bought into the narrative of conspiracy theories that it was stolen. There obviously is a danger going forward, but it was the sincerity and the passion of the protesters that I think made the video that we shot go viral. These weren't people who were just political opportunists, they genuinely believe that that was their house, if you like, and secondly, they deeply believe in a really visceral sense that the election was stolen.
Alexander: It was the sense of duty, they truly felt that they were doing the right thing and that the house that they stormed was theirs; it belonged to them. It was part of their history and they truly believed they were doing the right thing in trying to reclaim it, essentially. It was pure fury that something they believe to be democratically right had been stolen from them. There was absolutely no sense of sitting on the fence, there was no "Well, maybe Joe Biden did win." It was, "President Trump won this election and it has been stolen from him and therefore it's been stolen from us and the very bedrock of this country is being shaken right now because of it."
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Reporter Robert Moore and producer Sophie Alexander captured some of Wednesday's most poignant footage as the first crew to enter the U.S. Capitol with pro-Trump rioters.
As thousands of Trump supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, attempting to derail Congress' confirmation of Joe Biden's presidential victory, a three-person crew from ITV News stood at the very center of the mob, capturing some of the day's most significant footage.
Reporter Robert Moore, producer Sophie Alexander and cameraman Mark Davey were the first TV crew to enter the Capitol building with the rioters, witnessing their shattering of windows and conducting on-the-ground interviews as the action unfolded.
Following a day that will surely go down in American history, Moore and Alexander spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about their firsthand experience, the benefits of being a British station amid a "fake news" crowd and their biggest takeaways.
READ MORE
"Anarchy In The U.S.A.": World Reacts With Horror After Trump Mob Storms Capitol
Starting off, what was it like to be there yesterday?
Robert Moore: It was very dramatic, but I think what was most striking to us is none of this comes, or should have come, as a surprise. This was a highly organized protest that the president himself had been speaking about and encouraged people to turn out for. So I think one of the questions we have is why the Capitol Hill police were so ill prepared for what happened. Even as I was joining the crowd that was going into the congressional complex, breaking through doors and windows, I was struck by how this seemed almost inevitable — this is exactly the culmination of what we've been reporting on for so many years. It blended together the conspiracy theories that have been propagated by the president and the visceral views of so many Trump supporters.
Sophie Alexander: I don't think I quite realized the enormity of the situation until I woke up this morning. We work in news, this is what we do, this is what we're good at; however, yesterday was obviously unlike anything I've ever covered in my lifetime, in my career. I really think the enormity of it, and particularly what we achieved, the three of us getting what none of the other U.S. networks did, I really think that only sunk in this morning.
How did your day unfold, with you ending up right in the middle of that?
Moore: As a small foreign broadcast team here in Washington, ITV News prides itself on close-up, fly-on-the-wall type of reporting. So we were with the crowd earlier at the White House, we followed them to Capitol Hill, and we just happened to be on the left-hand side of the inauguration stage that's been built for Joe Biden. There was a little window, that little corridor, that led up some marbled steps and we noticed that a dozen or so very animated, angry, passionate protesters had found a little route up there that appeared to be unprotected by the Capitol Hill police. So they went up there, we followed them, and then we noticed that they were climbing through a window and had broken open a door right into the congressional building itself. They were charging through and we followed with them. And we decided just to tell our reporting as it unfolded.
I was very aware that my journalistic objective was to hear the voices of passionate people, whatever side of the political divide they're on. So I was keen to talk to and hear as much of their voices and their raw audio as possible. Our journalistic objective almost immediately came into view: "Let's be a fly on the wall. Let's just follow and track the passion as they enter the building." What was so striking for us was their chant wasn't insurrectionary or revolutionary. It was "Our house, our house." In other words, they felt almost like they'd arrived at their own home — this sense that the U.S. Capitol belonged to them was a very real and very striking feature of the day.
This is a group of people that typically opposes mainstream media. Did you face any harassment or violence from the rioters?
Moore: There is a lot of hostility from that crowd towards the media, all elements of it. But their real dislike is of American media. So once we've explained to them that we're an overseas TV network they were, if not, friendly. They didn't regard us as a hostile presence. They understood that we were trying to project their voices, if you like. I wouldn't say we ever were seen as their allies in those kind of dramatic and chaotic moments, but they didn't see us as the enemy and so that allowed us to track with them, follow them to Nancy Pelosi's office — which they were ransacking — and at no point did they regard us as a target. Their anger is so targeted at the Washington establishment that we were almost ignored, frankly, in the drama and chaos of the moment.
We've been reporting on the Trump movement for four-plus years now and we often go to the rallies and we often mix with them. We explain to them that Britain is also a country going through political turmoil with Brexit, just like the United States. Many of them are veterans and we point out that British and American soldiers are fighting and dying on battlefields and have done around the world. We try and connect with them in a way that Trump supporters understand, that Britain is an interested observer in America but doesn't have a stake in which side is covered. We want to hear all voices. And that's a way that we use [that], and we used it yesterday, to reassure those who were in the Capitol Building making their protests that we weren't the enemy. We were literally reporters trying to amplify their voices.
Alexander Being a British outlet does hugely help — one, the accent, and two, we say, "Listen, we're British television, this is not going to be shown in America, but we are here to report on what is happening and we're listening to you." There's so much distrust of the media in America at the moment, it's really very sad. However, we are not one of the main targets of that hatred, and as soon as we say we're British, it does change the tone of the conversation — thankfully, because at times, it was quite threatening.
Were there moments you feared for your safety? You are right alongside the tear gas at times.
Alexander: We did feel the effects of the tear gas, my eyes are still stinging this morning to be honest with you. I think as a producer, my first instinct is to keep the team safe, that's my priority. Keep the team safe, and cover the story as well as we can while keeping everyone safe. Truthfully, the anger and the hatred that I witnessed yesterday was not directed at us. It was directed at members of the House, so we were able to report and witness from the middle of it but without fearing for our safety too much.
Is there a moment from the day that really stands out to you?
Moore: That moment when the crowd jumped through the window, broke through the door — and then it was almost like they were stunned that they'd achieved that. They were looking at the marble statues; they were looking at the immaculate passageways and corridors of Congress; and they almost couldn't believe that they'd achieved that and that they'd broken in. It was that almost naive, stunned look on their faces and their joy that they'd sort of humiliated Washington's establishment. The image of wonder that was on their faces, their surprise at having outwitted and outmaneuvered Capitol Hill police officers, I think was the thing that struck me most. And then that blend of people who were there — wild militia men, Trump supporters, far right, people who have just been caught up in the emotion and joined the crowd. It was a real blend of some of the stranger characters in American protest movements.
Alexander: I think there were two moments. One when we were standing on, believe it or not, the inauguration stage where Joe Biden will be inaugurated in less than two weeks. Suddenly there was this roar from the mob around us, and we realized that they'd managed to break the doors of the scaffolding down and they had free rein to just run towards the Capitol, absolutely no police holding them back. Secondly, when we were actually inside the Capitol, we heard a man on the phone behind us who was obviously calling his loved one and he said, "Whatever happens today, just please know that I love you and tell the boys to do what they believe is right." He was prepared to die for what he believed was right, he really thought it could lead to that.
What did you see in terms of the police's handling of the riot?
Alexander: The police were entirely overwhelmed and underprepared. Before the mob had managed to actually get onto the inauguration stage and break into the Capitol, I counted maybe 12 police trying to hold back a crowd of hundreds, and that was in no way their fault. They were not prepared. However, I would say the responses of the police at the beginning was quite inadequate. But what would we prefer, do we want them to be firing live rounds into the crowd? No, we don't. So I think they did the best of their ability while being completely underprepared.
There was a big debate in U.S. media over what to call these people — protestors, rioters, terrorists. Did you have any discussions of how to deal with that?
Moore: I'm not using phrases like "mobs," and I'm certainly not using the word "terrorists," which strikes me as absurd. I think "protesters" is valid, I think that's the one that is kind of value neutral, if you like. They are protesters, they're protesting the establishment. I don't think it helps anybody to marginalize these people or to ridicule them or to suggest that they're a greater danger to the republic than they are. I think as reporters we need to step back and recognize that America faces this deep polarization, this schism, at the heart of the country. I think our business is not to mock or to judge either side. It's easy to believe they're a threat to democracy, but it's also important to understand that they believe they are defending the Republic, not threatening it.
What was your biggest takeaway from being immersed in this crowd and talking to rioters in a way that most new stations weren't?
Moore: The thing that resonated with me most was although it had an insurrectionary, almost revolutionary, feel, this wasn't an anarchic crowd. This wasn't anarchy that we witnessed, although that is somewhat being portrayed here for political reasons. What they were saying to us, to cameras, is, "We're here to save the Republic, not to assault it." So I suppose, in a paradoxical sense, my real takeaway is the sincerity of the views that they hold.
They are deeply invested in President Trump and we can all pass judgment on that, but what was clear to us is that they do believe that this election was stolen, and have bought into the narrative of conspiracy theories that it was stolen. There obviously is a danger going forward, but it was the sincerity and the passion of the protesters that I think made the video that we shot go viral. These weren't people who were just political opportunists, they genuinely believe that that was their house, if you like, and secondly, they deeply believe in a really visceral sense that the election was stolen.
Alexander: It was the sense of duty, they truly felt that they were doing the right thing and that the house that they stormed was theirs; it belonged to them. It was part of their history and they truly believed they were doing the right thing in trying to reclaim it, essentially. It was pure fury that something they believe to be democratically right had been stolen from them. There was absolutely no sense of sitting on the fence, there was no "Well, maybe Joe Biden did win." It was, "President Trump won this election and it has been stolen from him and therefore it's been stolen from us and the very bedrock of this country is being shaken right now because of it."
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Seth Meyers Calls For Donald Trump To Be “Immediately Removed From Office” After Capitol Carnage
Seth Meyers, the host of NBC’s Late Night, has called for Donald Trump’s immediate removal from office after his supporters staged a siege on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, resulting in…
deadline.com
Nancy Pelosi Says If Donald Trump Isn’t Removed Via 25th Amendment, “Congress May Be Prepared To Move Forward With Impeachment”
By Ted Johnson
Ted Johnson
More Stories By Ted
January 7, 2021 11:25am
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holds a news conference on the day after violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Congress, at the Capitol in Washington.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump from office.
If they don’t, she told reporters on Thursday: “Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. That is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus and the American people.”
She added: “While it is only 13 days left, any day can be a horror show.”
Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20, but Pelosi did not give a timeline for Pence to respond. “I don’t think it will take long to get an answer from the Vice President,” she said.
Capitol Chaos: Deadline’s Full Coverage
Earlier on Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for Trump to be removed immediately joining with others in the party who have urged such an action. Some Republicans have as well, including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who told reporters that “there is no question that America would be better off if the president would resign or be removed from office, and if Mike Pence would conduct a peaceful transition of power over the next 13 days until Joe Biden is sworn in.”
RELATED STORY
Capitol Siege: Chuck Schumer Calls For Donald Trump To Be Removed From Office Immediately; House Committee Plans Probe Of Police Response
Under the 25th Amendment, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet can give a written declaration “that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Then the vice president would become acting president. The president can challenge the declaration and trigger a process in which Congress would decide the issue. In that case, it would take two-thirds of both houses of Congress to remove the president.
Hollywood Reacts To Wild Day In America: Mob Storms Capitol, Dems Win Senate, 25th Amendment Chatter & More
President-elect Biden has not weighed in on the calls for invoking the 25th Amendment. He told reporters that he would not discuss it on Thursday as he introduced Merrick Garland to be the next attorney general.
Pelosi also said that “accountability is also needed for Republicans in Congress who promoted the extreme conspiracy theories that provoked the violence.”
Trump already has been impeached by the House, but was acquitted in a Senate trial early last year.
Pelosi also called for the resignation of Steven Sund, the chief of Capitol Police, who she said has not called her since the riot at the Capitol.
deadline.com
By Ted Johnson
Ted Johnson
More Stories By Ted
- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Resigns In Wake Of Capitol Siege, Joining Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao – Update
- Donald Trump, Facing Furor Over Capitol Siege, Puts Out New Video Acknowledging Joe Biden As Next President: “This Moment Calls For Healing And Reconciliation”
- Networks See Spike In Viewers As Capitol Siege Played Out; CNN Has Most-Watched Day In Its History
January 7, 2021 11:25am
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holds a news conference on the day after violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Congress, at the Capitol in Washington.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump from office.
If they don’t, she told reporters on Thursday: “Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. That is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus and the American people.”
She added: “While it is only 13 days left, any day can be a horror show.”
Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20, but Pelosi did not give a timeline for Pence to respond. “I don’t think it will take long to get an answer from the Vice President,” she said.
Capitol Chaos: Deadline’s Full Coverage
Earlier on Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for Trump to be removed immediately joining with others in the party who have urged such an action. Some Republicans have as well, including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who told reporters that “there is no question that America would be better off if the president would resign or be removed from office, and if Mike Pence would conduct a peaceful transition of power over the next 13 days until Joe Biden is sworn in.”
RELATED STORY
Capitol Siege: Chuck Schumer Calls For Donald Trump To Be Removed From Office Immediately; House Committee Plans Probe Of Police Response
Under the 25th Amendment, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet can give a written declaration “that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Then the vice president would become acting president. The president can challenge the declaration and trigger a process in which Congress would decide the issue. In that case, it would take two-thirds of both houses of Congress to remove the president.
Hollywood Reacts To Wild Day In America: Mob Storms Capitol, Dems Win Senate, 25th Amendment Chatter & More
President-elect Biden has not weighed in on the calls for invoking the 25th Amendment. He told reporters that he would not discuss it on Thursday as he introduced Merrick Garland to be the next attorney general.
Pelosi also said that “accountability is also needed for Republicans in Congress who promoted the extreme conspiracy theories that provoked the violence.”
Trump already has been impeached by the House, but was acquitted in a Senate trial early last year.
Pelosi also called for the resignation of Steven Sund, the chief of Capitol Police, who she said has not called her since the riot at the Capitol.
Nancy Pelosi Says If Donald Trump Isn’t Removed Via 25th Amendment, “Congress May Be Prepared To Move Forward With Impeachment”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump from office.
deadline.com
Disney CEO Bob Chapek Denounces “Inexcusable Assault” Of Violent Attack On U.S. Capitol
By Alexandra Del Rosario
Alexandra Del Rosario
Associate Editor/Nights & Weekends
@_amvdrMore Stories By Alexandra
Disney CEO Bob Chapek condemned the violent act of rioters at the U.S. Capitol, noting that Wednesday’s unprecedented fatal events marked “a sad and tragic day for our country, one unlike any other in our history.”
“What we saw was an egregious and inexcusable assault on America’s most revered institution and our democracy,” the Disney boss said in a statement, posted on the Walt Disney Company’s official Twitter. “Thankfully, the democratic process that we hold dearly ultimately prevailed.”
On Wednesday hundreds of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking to interrupt Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College votes. The disruptive and violent acts resulted in four deaths.
Like many who condemned the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Chapek called for unity and kindness amid the unrest.
“We should seize this opportunity, and move ahead with optimism and hope for a better, brighter future for all of America,” he wrote.
Chapek joins a number of industry figures who have called out the injustice of the Wednesday violence in the nation’s capital. See more reactions, from Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans and more, here.
See the Disney CEO’s full statement below.
By Alexandra Del Rosario
Alexandra Del Rosario
Associate Editor/Nights & Weekends
@_amvdrMore Stories By Alexandra
Disney CEO Bob Chapek condemned the violent act of rioters at the U.S. Capitol, noting that Wednesday’s unprecedented fatal events marked “a sad and tragic day for our country, one unlike any other in our history.”
“What we saw was an egregious and inexcusable assault on America’s most revered institution and our democracy,” the Disney boss said in a statement, posted on the Walt Disney Company’s official Twitter. “Thankfully, the democratic process that we hold dearly ultimately prevailed.”
On Wednesday hundreds of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking to interrupt Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College votes. The disruptive and violent acts resulted in four deaths.
Like many who condemned the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Chapek called for unity and kindness amid the unrest.
“We should seize this opportunity, and move ahead with optimism and hope for a better, brighter future for all of America,” he wrote.
Chapek joins a number of industry figures who have called out the injustice of the Wednesday violence in the nation’s capital. See more reactions, from Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans and more, here.
See the Disney CEO’s full statement below.
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