World leaders have reeled out steering condemnations of Wednesday’s attack on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, venue of the US Congress’ certification of president-elect Joe Biden’s election victory by pro-Trump protesters, describing the act as disgraceful.
This came as the US Congress confirmed Biden’s victory in the November 4, 2020 presidential election but some members are pushing to apply the provisions of the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution against President Donald Trump.
Among the world leaders who condemned the attack on Capitol Hill by Trump supporters objecting Biden’s victory is UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson who described the attack as disgraceful.
“Disgraceful scenes in US Congress, the United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power,” Johnson said in his Twitter handle.
Mexican President, Manuel Lopez Obrador, called for peaceful resolution of the crisis in the US following the invasion of the Capitol Hill.
Speaking at a regular news briefing, Obrador said his government adhered to the principle of non-intervention in the affairs of other countries.
“We’re not going to intervene in these matters, which are up to the Americans to resolve, to deal with. That’s our policy, that’s what I can say,” he said, after being asked to comment on the events that provoked widespread outrage in the US.
But he expressed regret that lives had been lost during the events in Washington on Wednesday, noting that he had always believed that conflicts, whether they were in Mexico or abroad, should be resolved “via dialogue and peaceful means.”
Also, Nigeria’s former president, Goodluck Jonathan, told Donald Trump that his ambition is not worth the blood of any American citizen.
“I have repeatedly said nobody’s political ambition is worth the blood of any citizen, in any part of the world. Absolutely nobody,” Jonathan said in a post on his Facebook page.
German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, blamed the Capitol Hill violence on lies and provocations from the highest level of authority in the U.S.
“The scenes we saw are the result of lies and more lies of division and contempt for democracy, of hate and rabble-rousing including at the highest level,” he said in an address to the nation.
Also, the head of the German parliament yesterday asked for an investigation into how to prevent a riot similar to the one that occurred at the US Capitol from happening at the Bundestag.
“A report has already been requested from the German Embassy in Washington on how the excesses of violence could come about within the Capitol,” the Bundestag said, citing its president, Wolfgang Schaeuble.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer had earlier called for the president’s cabinet to make use of the 25th Amendment to declare President Donald Trump unfit for office and put Vice President Mike Pence in charge – after Trump fuelled what he called an ‘insurrection’ mob that ran wild in the Capitol Wednesday.
The New York senator who will soon become majority leader once Joe Biden is sworn in amid made the call amid escalating concerns among Trump cabinet officials, former top aides, and his recently departed attorney general about the president’s conduct and continued risks he could pose to the country.
Schumer said, “The quickest and most effective way – it can be done today – to remove this president from office would be for the vice president to immediately invoke the 25th amendment.
“If the vice president and the cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president”.
His statement came shortly after Republican Rep Adam Kinzinger of Illinois became the first elected House Republican to call for the Trump cabinet and Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to strip Trump of his powers.
“It’s with a heavy heart I am calling for the sake of our democracy that the 25th Amendment be invoked,” Kinzinger said in a statement he posted on Twitter.’
Kinzinger noted that Trump “invoked and inflamed passions that only gave fuel to the insurrection we saw.”
His comment followed reports that members of Trump’s cabinet had been discussing use of the 25th Amendment to the constitution to declare him unfit for office.
His statement came as former Attorney General Bill Barr, who departed his post before Christmas, called out Trump for ‘orchestrating a mob.’
He told the Associated Press that orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress was inexcusable.
The talk of using the 25th Amendment came amid fears of what damage Trump might be able to carry out even in the short two weeks left in his tenure as aides flee his White House and he continues to lash out at enemies, with control of the military and massive executive powers.
Several House Democrats have begun talks of rushing through an impeachment, after the failed January impeachment trial in the Senate.
The 25th Amendment, which also governs a president who voluntarily relinquishes power on a temporary basis, requires that the vice president and ‘a majority of either the principal officers of the executive, departments or of such other body as Congress may as law provides, inform the Congress that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
(Leadershipng)