WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) released the following statement on January 7 calling on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Trump from office immediately. 

“Yesterday, domestic terrorists – incited and inspired by President Trump – violently overtook our nation’s Capitol Building in a deadly insurrection that attempted to block the completion of a fair and free election. Trump’s pedaling of conspiracy theories about this election and voter fraud and his directing his followers to march on the Capitol was a direct attack on our democracy and our freedoms. 

“Throughout the day yesterday, I remained focused on the task at hand – certifying the Electoral College results. After casting my vote and arriving home early this morning, and thinking through how we as a nation and a government respond to the insurrection, one thing is very clear: Trump must be removed from office either via the 25th Amendment or impeachment. Invoking the 25th Amendment is the quickest way to do this, and expedience must be our goal.  He is clearly unfit and cannot be trusted to carry out his duties and peacefully transfer power to the next President– he must be removed from office as soon as possible. If the Vice President and Cabinet fail to act, we have a duty to pursue impeachment.

“Finally, it became clear yesterday that security and enforcement measures were woefully inadequate, and it appears that many of the perpetrators were allowed to walk free. While I commend the bravery of our law enforcement officers for persevering throughout this deadly attack, we must ensure that these domestic terrorists are brought to justice quickly, and that these systemic failures do not happen again, particularly with the Inauguration less than two weeks away. We will be coordinating with other committees that have jurisdiction over Capitol operations, and our Committee plans to review the steps taken by federal agencies in preparing for and responding to this attack.”