WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., is the latest to call for the removal of Donald Trump as president following an attack on the Capitol Building Wednesday.
In a prepared statement issued Friday, O’Halleran called on the vice president and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.
“As of now, five people have died as a result of this violent insurrection, including a Capitol Police officer. Our democracy has been damaged and faith in our election processes undermined again and again. Donald Trump is unfit to be president.
“I call on the Cabinet to promptly convene and use the 25th Amendment to formally remove him from office.
“The general consensus from sources in and out of the White House is that the president has effectively abdicated his position as Commander in Chief to focus on baseless claims of a stolen election. Even for the next two weeks, America cannot depend on someone who places his own desires over the needs of an entire country.
“American citizens are dying by the thousands while our president holds super-spreader events attempting to mislead his supporters into believing he won an election that he lost. Donald Trump has ignored his responsibility to lead our nation through this deadly pandemic.
“Moreover, undermining faith in our election process by attempting to mislead the American public only serves to weaken us and make us vulnerable to foreign actors who would do us harm. For the good of our country, it must stop.
“Congress needs to focus on getting this pandemic under control and passing relief for struggling Americans. Arizona families are hurting, our hospitals and health care systems are overextended, seniors are still waiting to receive their vaccines, and children remain out of classrooms. I intend to focus on them.”
In 2020, O’Halleran was re-elected to a third term as congressman in Arizona’s first district, which includes Graham and Greenlee counties.
