WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she has spoken to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about preventing an “unhinged” President Donald Trump from ordering military actions including a possible nuclear strike in his final days and hours at the White House.
Pelosi said in a statement to colleagues that she spoke with Gen. 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 Milley assured her steps are in place.
The president has sole authority in the U.S. government to order the launch of a nuclear weapon. But a military commander could refuse the order if it were determined to be illegal.
Pelosi said the situation of “this unhinged president could not be more dangerous.”
Pelosi was meeting with the House Democratic caucus Friday to consider impeachment proceedings against the president as soon as next week after the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob that shocked the nation and the world.
Pelosi told Democrats that the top military official assured her steps are in place to prevent a Trump nuclear launch.
Top lawmakers are sounding alarms that even though Trump is to leave office Jan. 20 when Democrat Joe Biden is sworn in, he could do great damage on his way out. And if Trump were to be impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate, he would be prevented from running again for the presidency in 2024 or ever holding public office again. Trump would be only the president twice impeached.
Conviction in the Republican Senate at this late date would seem unlikely. But it’s a measure of his uncomfortable position that there has been a noteworthy lack of GOP statements attacking Democrats’ calls for his removal.
The final days of Trump’s presidency are spinning toward a chaotic end as he holes up at the White House, abandoned by many aides, leading Republicans and Cabinet members. He was tweeting again after his Twitter account was reinstated, reverting to an aggressive statement that his supporters must not be “disrespected” after he sent out a calmer Thursday video decrying the violence.
Calls are mounting for legal action following the Capitol attack, in which one protester was shot to death by Capitol police and Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick died. Three other people died from “medical emergencies” during the demonstration.
Strong criticism of Trump, who urged the protesters to march to the Capitol, continued unabated.
“Every day that he remains in office, he is a danger to the Republic,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
Schiff, who led Trump’s impeachment in 2019, said in a statement that Trump “lit the fuse which exploded on Wednesday at the Capitol.”
Articles of impeachment are expected to be introduced on Monday, with a House vote as soon as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the planning and granted anonymity to discuss it.
Pelosi and Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer have called on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to to force Trump from office. It’s a process for removing the president and installing the vice president to take over.
