《TAIPEI TIMES》 Democrats plan lightning Trump impeachment

‘GET OUT’: Nancy Pelosi said she had been assured that there were safeguards to prevent ‘an unstable’ president accessing nuclear launch codes

/ AP, WASHINGTON

Democrats in the US Congress are laying plans for the swift impeachment of US President Donald Trump, demanding decisive, immediate action to ensure he cannot add to the damage he has inflicted or even ignite nuclear war in his final days in office.

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As the US comes to terms with the violent siege of the US Capitol by Trump supporters that left five dead on Wednesday, the crisis that appears to be among the final acts of his presidency is deepening like few others in the nation’s history.

With less than two weeks until he leaves office, Democrats want him out and he has few defenders speaking up for him in his own Republican Party.

“We must take action,” US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday on a conference call with Democrats.

One prominent Republican, US Senator Lisa Murkowski, told the Anchorage Daily News that Trump simply “needs to get out.”

After refusing to concede defeat in the November election, he has now promised a smooth transfer of power when US president-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20.

Even so, he said he would not attend the inauguration — the first such presidential snub since just after the Civil War.

In Congress, where many have watched and reeled as the president spent four years breaking norms and testing the nation’s guardrails of democracy, Democrats are unwilling to take further chances with only a few days left in his term.

The mayhem that erupted on Wednesday at the Capitol stunned the world and threatened the traditional peaceful transfer of power.

Pelosi said she had spoken to US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley “to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes” for nuclear war.

She said that Milley assured her long-standing safeguards are in place.

The president has sole authority to order the launch of a nuclear weapon, but a military commander could refuse the order if it were determined to be illegal. Trump has not publicly made such threats, but officials warn of grave danger if the president is left unchecked.

“This unhinged president could not be more dangerous,” Pelosi said.

A draft of the Articles of Impeachment accuses Trump of abuse of power, saying he “willfully made statements that encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — imminent lawless action at the Capitol,” a person familiar with the details said.

The articles are expected to be introduced tomorrow, with a House vote as soon as Wednesday.

If impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate, Trump might be prevented from running again for the presidency in 2024 or ever holding public office again. He would be only the president twice impeached.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES