U.S. Senator from New York Chuck Schumer is urging Congress to act immediately to remove President Trump from office, declaring him no longer fit to serve after Wednesday's Capitol Hill riots that left four people dead.
Schumer's comments come after bipartisan outrage at the president following Wednesday's events in which a mob of pro-Trump rioters ran amok in the Capitol building, causing a lockdown and disrupting the usually routine certification of the Electoral College votes.
"What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by President Trump," Schumer said in a statement issued via Twitter. "This president must not hold office one day longer."
"The quickest and most efficient way — it can be done today — to remove this president form office would be for the Vice President to immediately invoke the 25th amendment. If the Vice President and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress must reconvene to impeach President Trump."
Schumer's sentiment was echoed by members of both houses of Congress and a number of local officials, including governors Andrew Cuomo and Phil Murphy and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio.
After his supporters breached the Capitol, the president issued a statement calling for peace and urging the rioters to go home.
Nearly 2,000 National Guard members from New York and New Jersey were deployed to assist with the riot response in Washington, D.C., NBC New York reports.
NYPD officers were advised to be on alert for "potential unrest" as a number of local demonstrations have been planned in response to the events in D.C.
Congress finally certified the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' Electoral College victory in the wee hours of Thursday morning, prompting Trump to issue a concession statement in which he repeated false claims about the election being "stolen."
Trump's actions prompted rebukes from several senior republicans and motivated many of his cabinet officials to resign in protest, including Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger and Commerce Department deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and security John Costello.
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