Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is being pressed on if he were still a member of the Cabinet if he would support invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump.
CNN’s Jake Tapper mentioned during a phone interview with Kelly on Thursday calls — by both Democrats and some Republicans — to invoke the 25th Amendment and asked the former Marine general if he supports “such an action.”
Kelly responded, “The Cabinet should meet and have a discussion. I don’t think it will happen, but I think the Cabinet should meet and discuss this.”
“The behavior yesterday and in the weeks and months before that has been outrageous from the president,” he added. “And what happened on Capitol Hill yesterday is a direct result of his poisoning the minds of people with the lies and the frauds.”
Noting Kelly used to be a member of the Cabinet, Tapper pressed, “If you were in the Cabinet right now, would you vote to remove him from office?”
After a slight pause, Kelly said, “Yes, I would,” before noting, “One thing we have going for us here, Jake, it’s only 13 more days.”
Watch Kelly’s interview below:
Trump's fmr. Chief of Staff John Kelly says he would vote to remove the President from office. He believes the Cabinet should meet to discuss invoking the 25th Amendment.
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) January 7, 2021
“What happened on Capitol Hill yesterday is a direct result of his poisoning the minds of people with" lies. pic.twitter.com/d5AGPp3yfd
Kelly’s remarks come a day after violent protests broke out in the nation’s capital when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol — on the day Congress met to formally ratify the Electoral College vote, which cemented President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
“I was horrified. Just an unbelievable scene at the Capitol,” Kelly also said during the interview.
He continued, “Frankly, the President’s actions and words didn’t surprise me at all, but I was very, very surprised that those people would assault the people’s house, do the damage they did and embarrass us all.”
See his comments below:
“I was horrified,” Trump’s fmr. Chief of Staff John Kelly reacts to the US Capitol riots. Kelly said while he wasn’t surprised by the President’s actions, he was surprised by the rioters.
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) January 7, 2021
I was surprised “those people would assault the people’s House… and embarrass us all.” pic.twitter.com/zWrp5cEork
Previously, Kelly weighed in on the 2020 presidential election, where he declared that Trump’s failure to concede “hurts our national security,” as IJR reported.
Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press on Thursday that Trump’s conduct on Wednesday was a “betrayal of his office and supporters.”
Barr added that “orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called for Trump’s removal from office “by immediately invoking the 25th Amendment,” during her press conference on Thursday. She said, or else, “If the vice president and Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) became the first Republican lawmaker to support invoking the 25th Amendment — which would remove Trump and put Vice President Mike Pence in charge, until Biden’s inauguration.
“It’s time to invoke the 25th Amendment and end this nightmare,” Kinzinger said in a video message.
He added, “The president caused this. The president is unfit and the president is unwell. And the president now must relinquish control of the executive branch voluntarily or involuntarily.”
