House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that President Trump is a “clear and present danger” to the country and must be removed from office.
“The President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country. He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love,” Pelosi said during impeachment proceedings in the House.
The House is set to vote Wednesday on an article of impeachment Democrats introduced on Monday, charging the president with “incitement of insurrection” for his rhetoric before and during the deadly riot at the Capitol last week, which forced lawmakers to evacuate.
Since the election in November, Trump has “lied about the outcome, sowed self-serving doubt about democracy, and unconstitutionally sought to influence state officials to repeal reality,” Pelosi said.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that widespread voter fraud tipped the election in favor of Joe Biden. In a call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Trump urged him to “find” the votes necessary to overturn his election loss in the state, at one point warning him that he is taking “a big risk” if he declines to do so.
“And then came that day of fire we all experienced,” she continued. “The president must be impeached, and I believe the president must be convicted by the Senate, a constitutional remedy that will ensure that the Republic will be safe from this man, who is so resolutely determined to tear down the things that we hold dear and that hold us together.”
“It gives me no pleasure to say this. It breaks my heart. It should break your heart. It should break all of our hearts,” Pelosi said from the House floor.
Earlier this week, other Democrats including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hakeem Jeffries also called Trump a “clear and present danger” to the nation and called for his removal.