House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thanked a National Guard troop following the riots that disturbed the US Capitol last week.
Nancy Pelosi gave each of the troops a challenge coin to signify their mission of protecting the House when it was stormed by President Donald Trump's supporters on Jan. 6.
Referring to the mob, she said: “Those insurrectionists were not patriots. They were not part of a political base to be catered to and managed.”
“They were domestic terrorists. And justice must prevail,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi also posted a Tweet about the National Guard.
“Even during this dark time in the history of America, we find reasons for hope,” she said. “It was my privilege today to personally thank members of the National Guard who are working protect our nation’s Capitol. Thank you for your commitment to our American democracy.”
Pelosi later spoke at the House. “He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love,” she said, referring to Trump's pending impeachment trial.
“The president much be impeached and, I believe, the president must be convicted by the Senate, a constitutional remedy that will ensure that the republic will be safe from this man who is so resolutely determined to tear down the things that we hold so dear,” Pelosi said.
Trump's impeachment trial could happen during President-elect Joe Biden’s presidency, and Democrats are worried.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the Republican senator will not bring the upper chamber back earlier than Tuesday. This was relayed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Schumer called on his GOP counterpart to use emergency powers to quickly conduct a trial and vote on whether to convict Trump.
The House will vote Wednesday to impeach Trump for his actions that influenced the violence at the US Capitol last week while Congress was counting Biden’s electoral win. Democrats are worried a Senate trial during Biden’s presidency would affect the confirmation of Cabinet members and the passage of a coronavirus relief package.
The impeachment also received support from Republicans.
Pelosi lauded Rep. Liz Cheney's decision to vote to impeach Trump before the press on Capitol Hill: “Good for her to be honoring the oath of office. Would that more Republicans would be honoring their oaths of office now.”
Cheney is the first member of House GOP leadership to support Trump’s impeachment. Cheney’s statement issued on Tuesday evening shows her frustration about the mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6.
“Much more will become clear in coming days and weeks, but what we know now is enough,” her statement reads. “The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing.”
The third-ranking Republican official explained: “None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
