Nancy Pelosi’s Speech Calling For Trump’s Removal Under 25th Amendment: Full Text

Another major voice in U.S. Congress has indicated that President Donald Trump will be removed from office before Joe Biden’s inauguration, by either the invoking of the 25th Amendment or a second impeachment.

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, revealed in remarks to the press this afternoon the plans to remove the President from his post for the last weeks of his tenure. See the full text of her speech below.

“Good Afternoon. I don’t know if good is a way to describe it, because yesterday, the President of the United States incited an armed insurrection against America. The gleeful desecration of our U.S. Capitol, which is the temple of our American democracy, and the violence targeting Congress are horrors that will forever stain our nation’s history, instigated by the President of the United States. That why it's such a stain. In calling for this seditious act, the President has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people. 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 the Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. That is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus, and the American people, by the way.

Justice will be done to those who carried out these acts, which were acts of sedition and acts of cowardice. To those whose purpose was to deter our responsibility, you have failed. You did not divert the Congress from our solemn Constitutional purpose to validate the overwhelming election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice-President of the United States. Despite the desecration of our Capitol, we upheld in front of the country, and the world, the bedrock principle that the people are sovereign, and that they hold the power to choose their leaders through the ballot, rejecting this attempted coup on the part of President Trump and his supporters. Accountability is also needed for Republicans in Congress who promoted the extreme conspiracy theories that provoked the violence, encouraged the mob, and who, after desecration of the Capitol, went back to the House floor and continued to push the falsehoods that underpinned this assault on our democracy. These Republicans abdicated their oath of office that was taken just three days prior, to protect the American people and support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The House worked through the evening and into the morning ‘til nearly 4 a.m. to validate the Electoral count, again proclaiming Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the newly elected President and Vice-President of the United States. I just want to say how proud I am of my members. For a while now, our Fourth Scholars we call them, Jamie Raskin, Zoe Lofgren, the Committee Chair of Jurisdiction, Adam Schiff and Joe Neguse—set forth a plan that was about the Constitution. It wasn’t about Donald Trump and all the reasons that he shouldn’t be President. He was not part of this. It was about the Constitution and how we have to, we are a country of law, we are not a monarchy with a king as Jamie has said over and over again. I also want to thank the members of the Arizona delegation, led by Raúl Grijalva, and the Pennsylvania delegation, led by Mike Doyle, the two deans that made the presentation to refute the ridiculous statements being made by our colleagues. For what reason? I don’t know. But it wasn’t about reason. So I thank them for them.

Through all of this, this week, our swearing-in on Sunday, passing our rule and preparing for Wednesday. As the week began, the election of two Democrats in Georgia because of the overwhelming participation of people at the grassroots level. So many people, I'm so proud of our House members--Congresswoman Williams, the chair of the Georgia Democratic Party, Lucy McBath, the newly-elected Carolyn Bordeaux, David Scott, Mr. Bishop who was the dean of that delegation and Hank Johnson--they had their plan already, should they have objected to Georgia. As did Nevada, as did Michigan, as did Wisconsin. So, we were prepared, members worked hard about defending the Constitution, honoring our purpose to count and ascertain the electoral college numbers for the Presidency. So, I was proud of them and I did over and over again, and I am very pleased that we have now, in 13 days, President Joe Biden, a Democratic House Majority, and a Democratic Senate Majority that will work to heal, to heal and restore the soul of our nation.

I will close by invoking, as I did last night, the psalm of St. Francis, our patron saint in San Francisco, who’s song of St. Francis is our city’s national anthem: Lord, make a channel of thy peace, where there is darkness may we bring light, where there is hatred, love, despair hope, the list goes on. And so does the time for healing. I'll take a solid path of unity, for unity for our country.”