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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week that she spoke to Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about preventing President Trump from using nuclear launch codes if necessary.
The president is increasingly isolated. He has been abandoned by his allies and has few defenders, as administration officials resign in disgust and blame the president for inciting the deadly riot.
Most Republicans may be content with Trump riding out the final 12 days of his administration.
There appears to be minimal GOP support for impeachment, and efforts to oust him through the 25th Amendment have stalled.
Trump also seems unlikely to resign on his own. One source close to the president flatly rejected the prospect of Trump resigning before Jan. 20.
Biden on Friday indicated that there is such little time left that the best option may just be to ride it out.
Mixed reports about Vice President Pence’s role in deploying the National Guard to respond to the siege raised questions about whether the chain of command was broken Wednesday, though the Pentagon insists it never was.
Meanwhile, Trump still has the authority to call up troops to quell civil unrest, in addition to nearly unchecked powers to launch a nuclear weapon, and tensions with global hot spots such as Iran could still flare up in the next two weeks.
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The national security concerns are contributing to calls for Trump’s removal from office, one way or the other, before President-elect Joe Biden