Accountable again. Tonight, the growing urgency to remove donald trump from office before it gets worse. The reckoning for everyone who enabled the president s insurrection, the alarming crop of republicans continuing to support sedition for trump, and the National Security failure that allowed the president s mob to breach the capitol. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york, im chris hayes. Tonight, the house of representatives appears to be moving closer to impeaching donald trump for a second time. That would be the first time in history thats been done. Speaker nancy pelosi earlier today said trump needs to be removed from the white house, called upon the president s cabinet and Vice President mike pence to immediately invoke the 25th amendment and declare the president unfit to dispatch his duties. It would immediately move the power into the hands of mike pence. And failing that, congress will act. I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the Vice President to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment. If the Vice President and cabinet do not act, the congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. That is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus. You might have caught that may there, which i have been thinking about. May be moving forward with impeachment. New reporting tonight that Vice President pence will not budge on the 25th amendment, and again, why would he . Hes hitched to donald trump for all eternity. Mike pence, donald trump, those two names will be together forever. Theyll be judged together forever, for better or more likely, for worse. Jerry nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee who impeached the president a year ago, said its time to do it again. Can sfoert the immediately impeachment of the president and his removal of the office in the wake of this deadly attack on the capitol. There must be consequences. Those consequences must be commensurate with the offense and must begin with the president of the United States. And chairman nadler is correct. Donald trump needs to go, now. It is no coincidence that less than an hour ago, the president released a stilted teleprompter video conceding a new administration will be inaugurated on january 20th. It was clearly a bid to halt a 25th amendment or impeachment, even as Rupert Murdochs wall street journal editorial pager despite his hostage video concession, it is still clear that donald trump cannot be trusted to hold the office for a minute longer. You know, when history comes knocking, when we arrive at these moments, its strange and surreal because it feels weirdly normal. But our country is, im telling you this right now, in the midst of a National Emergency as acute and severe as anything since the civil war. It is urgently important the president of the United States be removed from office as quickly as legally possible. The president is a clear and present danger to american democracy as exemplified by many things but certainly by his actions yesterday. As eric levts aptly put it, he must be evicted from our white house immediately. He must be frog marched out of our civic life in disgrace. Amen. Donald trump has 13 days left, not even two weeks. But in that time, hes the commander in chief and the most powerful armed forces in the world. In fact, in human history. He has access to the nuclear codes, but short of that, theres all kinds of powers that adhere to him as president of the United States. Among them, the pardoning power, which he is now reportedly discussing to use to pardon himself, which again, would be unprecedented. But above all that, yesterday, the man charged with protecting the country and defending the constitution and american democracy, led an armed mob to the capitol and unleashed them to overrun it. And were going to have to fight much harder. And mike pence is going to have to come through for us. And if he doesnt, that will be a sad day for our country. Were going to walk down to the capitol. And were going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And well probably not be cheering so much for some of them. Because youll never take back our country with weakness. Lets all go down to the capitol, dont be weak. And dont cheer the ones doing the wrong thing. Ensuing assault on the Capitol Building resulted in the deaths of at least four people. There are four people who are dead after that. And members of the article i branch of congress, the first branch described in the constitution, cowering behind makeshift furniture barricades as the armed mobs rampaged around and the president rooted them on. At one point after the capitols breached, as people had guns drawn in that building, the president tweeting out an attack on mike pence, who at that moment had been cleared to a secure room by the secret service. Its a miracle more people didnt die, a miracle. It could have been much worse, as the Justice Department confirmed two explosive devices found in the capitol yesterday were real explosive devices. Also reports of devices outside the rnc and dnc. They said President Trump was not off limits in his investigation of what happened yesterday. Well, he sure shouldnt be. The plain truth, this is not hyperbole or partisanship. The plain truth is that the president has been openly engaged in sedition and seditious conspiracy since he lost the election. In fact, before it, honestly. Yesterday was just the capstone of it. He needs to be removed from office quickly, and then he should be arrested and tried for sedition. Thats where we are right now. Anyone who pretends otherwise is deluded. Is disqualified from the sober duties of public life at this important moment. Congress needs to take the steps they can control. They cannot rely on people in Donald Trumps cabinet to do the right thing. Why would we . Theyre the people who have colluded with the president as he has over seen the deadliest year in American History and lied to us about an epidemic that as of today is killing a 9 11s worth of people every day. Senator Chuck Schumer made that clear moments after pelosi spoke. Speaker pelosi and i tried to call the Vice President this morning. To tell him to do this. They kept us on hold for 25 minutes, and then said the Vice President wouldnt come on the phone. So we are making this call public. Because he should do it and do it right away. The president incited a violent mob to attack the capitol. There is no analog or precedent really for it in American History. Perhaps the caning of charles summoner in 1856 and ten years later we had a civil war. It should live in infamomy and blood soaked honor as that moment does. And the Vice President is a coward, complicit in ducking congress calls. Congress should impeach trump. They absolutely should not go home as apparently many have. He sent his armed mobs into your workplace, congress. They sent the speaker fleeing into a secure room while they ransacked her office at the president s behest, if that is not a crime, i do not know what is. What are we doing here, everyone . Last night, senator mitt romney, the only republican who voted to remove trump from office, and for that, he deserves credit, said were going to have to hold our breath until trump is gone. I have a news flash, senator. You cant hold your breath for 13 days. Not good enough. We are in completely uncharted territory here. Everyone is grasping for the right word or analogy, whether in our own history or comparatively in other countries and Everyone Wants normalcy. But this is what it is. We face what we face. The president is a threat to the republic and to american democracy. Hes not just plotting to overturn american democracy. Hes actively trying to make it happen. He needs to go right now. Assistant speaker of the house Katherine Clark is one of the lawmakers caught up in yesterdays sedition riot. The massachusetts democrat became the first member of house leadership to call for the president s removal. And she joins me now. First, let me ask you at a human level how you are doing, and i guess how youre processing yesterday and what happened yesterday. Thank you, chris. Its difficult to take in. I am never going to forget that scene as i walked up independence avenue towards the capitol to go to work, seeing hundreds of people carrying trump flags, confederate flags, the smell of tear gas and burning in the air. Up on the steps of the capitol, its a scene that i thought maybe would happen in some other country, but not here in the United States. And that fear for my colleagues, for the safety of the staff, of everyone who works in that room, in that building, has been replaced by rage. Rage that this president would commit this seditious act, would commit these acts of treason against our country. What explain this to me. This morning, i saw the congress, both houses, had entered into recess with the next plan to convene, i guess, right around the inauguration. And i thought it was a joke or i was misunderstanding something. Like, it seems to me there are these battling imperatives. It seems to me that much of the governing class and Political Leadership in washington, democrat and republican, would like to avoid some final confrontation with the president. Move on and turn the page. Let him walk off. He is not going to allow that. I dont know how it could be any clearer. Do you all understand that . You are going to have to confront him. There is no other option. Is that understood by you and members of the caucus . It is well understood, appreciated, and we are resolute about holding this president accountable. And we are also resolute in holding our republican counterparts accountable. They have enabled this president , and after the outrageous and horrifying and dangerous events of yesterday, to have over half of the Republican Caucus continue the myth, the lie that is fueling this violence, that somehow our elections were anything but fair. They voted, you know, to say that these elections somehow shouldnt be certified. That we have to move forward, and we have to do it on parallel tracks. We have to push for the 25th amendment, but we dont have a good record with Vice President pence of doing anything to stand up to his oath of office, the same one that i took, that every member of congress took, just on sunday to uphold this constitution. Now is the time to step up. So we will ask them to do whats the fastest thing to remove this president. To go forward with the 25th amendment removal process. But if they wont, we will act. We will move forward with impeachment, and we can do that on a parallel track. There are 13 days left of this presidency. And each one of them is too long for the security of americans. Yeah, there are two sources of urgency that strike me here. The first sense of urgency is that there are 13 days in which hes president of the United States. He has demonstrated that he is a threat to the republic yesterday. Thats just clear. So there is a threat to americas constitutional democratic order occupying the most powerful position that we have to deal with that, but second of all, even as the clock ticks, what does it say about American Public life and Democratic Health if someone can do that and just leave and maybe run again . I mean, this is it. This is how democracies fall, right . When this kind of thing is brooked . Thats exactly right, chris. Theres a moment in all of our lives and in our collective lives as a country where history shows us there arent really any options here. We cannot only not do this to the American People, to our fundamental belief in a constitution. This american experiment in democracy, we also cant do it to the world. Our capitol is a symbol with deep meaning for the world about a democracy and what that means. What elected leaders by the people of a country represent that freedom, our quest for equality and justice for all, and although we dont have that perfect union, if we let this act, this horrible, seditious act stand unchallenged, we are sending the message not only to the country but to the world that we have given up, that we have turned our back on those very ideals. And because this is the president , it means that we have a responsibility to act and to act swiftly and decisively. And we know that we have to have republicans find this moment to step up, to honor their country over this one person who seems to have such a grip on them. But theres a point in everyones life, if its a political decision or a personal decision, where you just have to listen to Martin Luther king and do whats right. It is always the right time to do whats right. And theres no gray area here. This is a clear decision. This president is a danger. This president is a traitor. And this president must be removed from office. Katherine clark of massachusetts, im glad youre safe, and im glad youre well, and im grateful for you coming on. I know that David Cicilline is working on drawing up impeachment in the house Judiciary Committee. And chairman nadler supports it, along with ted lieu and jamie raskcon, thank you for making time tonight. Thank you, chris. So if the president s impeached hell face trial in the senate, as he first did almost one year ago. Chris van hollen will be sitting in judgment again of this president. He joins me now. Let me start with the same question i asked congressman clark. How are you doing . How do you understand the events of yesterday . Well, chris, its good to be with you. Im still in shock that we had a violent mob attack the capitol of the United States, attack our capitol. At the same time, it was predictable given the lies and the poison and the incitement of so many people by the president of the United States, that Something Like this could happen, something violent could happen in the attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. And thats what we witnessed yesterday. The result of a president inciting insurrection and sedition. And people trying to essentially overturn the will of the people and the election in our country. Sad day for our country. There has to be active and urgent reaction. Yeah, so i have no illusions about anyones come to jesus moments about the nature of this president. Everything i think on, well, largely in capitol hill, but i think precisely now with the republicans are sort of cynical calculations, but its striking to me, elaine chao, who is Mitch Mcconnells wife, resigned ostensibly in protest 13 days before it all ended today, Rupert Murdochs wall street journal editorial page is now calling for him to step down. The president also helped lose those two senate seats thats now kicked over the senate to the democratic party. Its the thing that people like Rupert Murdoch and Mitch Mcconnell care about more than anything else, frankly, including insurrection. So i guess the question is, do you feel were headed towards a Joseph Mccarthy denumont here, where for a bunch of self interested reasons, people are like, enough with this dude, or is it going to be the same nonsense we have seen for four years of like, well, its only 13 more days . Well, look. You have got the rats leaving the sinking ship here. And trying at the 11th hour to somehow redeem themselves. Thats not going to happen. And thats why its so urgent that we take steps to remove the president , because he remains an active threat to our democracy, and we need to establish very clearly the precedent that this is unacceptable conduct. The 25th amendment would be the fastest and most likely successful route to actually removing the president s power and getting his finger off the nuclear button, but obviously, impeachment needs to be pursued if the 25th amendment wont work. And i have to say, chris, the possibility of bringing a criminal indictment against the president for sedition has to be pursued. Youre saying after the president is no longer the president , and that would be by the department of justice, which obviously would be very difficult politically, but i mean, i agree with you on the merits, its all there. Hes been doing it for weeks in front of everyone, but you think that has to be pursued . Look, one thing we know about the incoming president , joe biden, is he will allow the Justice Department to be independent. Yes. It will not be his political pawn. But in the interests of preserving our democracy, i think that they need to look into charges of sedition. A lot of the elements of, you know, the conspiracy and sedition are there. And it needs to be it needs to be pursued. Again, totally independently. Obviously, from the president of the the next president of the United States. Senator chris van hollen, who represents the state of maryland, in the capitol yesterday, if i am not mistaken, i saw you giving a speech late in the night. Thank you very much for making time. Good to be with you. Thanks, chris. Ahead, as the senator just mentioned, some of the trump enablers are jumping ship, abandoned the president ostensibly as his days in the white house tick down. What those political calculations could mean for the country, after this. 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