President Trump said Tuesday he believes the 25th Amendment poses “zero risk” to him but suggested it could be applied to President-elect Joe Biden, with the president shrugging off the possibility of being removed from office after he incited supporters to storm the Capitol last week.
“Free speech is under assault like never before. The 25th Amendment is of zero risk to me, but will come back to haunt Joe Biden and the Biden administration. As the expression goes, be careful what you wish for,” Trump said at the start of prepared remarks near the southern border in Alamo, Texas.
“The impeachment hoax is the continuation of the greatest and most vicious witch hunt in the history of our country and is causing tremendous anger and division and pain, far greater than most people will ever understand, which is very dangerous for the USA, especially at this very tender time,” Trump continued.
The president later added that it is time for the nation “to heal” and denounced attacks on law enforcement during the speech, which was mostly used to tout his efforts to crackdown on immigration and construct a wall along the southern border during his time in office.
But Trump’s scripted remarks reflect how little he has acknowledged his own role in last week’s violence at the Capitol, where multiple people died, including a Capitol Police officer, when pro-Trump rioters sought to halt the certification of Biden’s victory.
Trump’s conduct has triggered calls from Democrats for Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, by which the vice president and a majority of Cabinet members can deem the president unfit for office and push to remove him.
But that effort has gained little traction, with multiple Cabinet officials resigning in recent days and Pence showing no interest in discussing it. Instead, the House is poised to impeach Trump with just a week left in his term.
Trump’s comments that doing so will cause anger among his supporters has raised additional security concerns.
Capitol security officials on Monday night warned lawmakers that extremist supporters of Trump are planning to try to storm the Capitol ahead of Biden’s inauguration next week.
Thousands of the president’s supporters descended on Washington, D.C., last week to protest the certification of the electoral results affirming Biden as the next president after Trump spent weeks refusing to concede and insisting the election had been “stolen.” A throng of supporters later swarmed the Capitol complex in a riot.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them,” Trump told supporters at the Ellipse near the White House a short time before his supporters overwhelmed police.
“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated.” he continued. “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Video and firsthand accounts have since emerged of the mob assaulting police, breaking down doors, shattering windows and carrying zip ties. Dozens have been arrested in connection with the chaos, including one man who entered Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office.