Two days after a mob attack on the United States Capitol, President Donald Trump is under pressure to resign or face impeachment.
He was believed to have incited the mob to breach the Capitol on Wednesday as the Congress was certifying the electoral college victory of the President-elect, Joe Biden.
This is as Trump on Friday announced that he would not attend Biden’s inauguration on January 20 – a decision the President-elect at a press conference on Friday said he was glad about.
Trump, who lost the popular and electoral college votes, had disputed the November 2020 election results, without evidence, and encouraged an overturn of the results.
The New York Times reported that on Wednesday, as Congress convened to certify Biden’s victory, Trump, during a speech outside the White House, called on his supporters to head to the Capitol and protest against the certification – which they did.
The incident saw a crowd of the President’s supporters crashing through metal barriers, storming the Capitol and overwhelming the Police.
The attack, which has generated condemnation from across the world, led to the death of five people, including a police officer, who had been with the Capitol Police since July 2008.
Trump in a video posted on Twitter on Thursday condemned the “heinous” attack on the Capitol and called for “national healing.”
In a concession speech for the first time since the election, Trump also called for an “orderly” and “seamless” transition to a new administration.
However, the President on Friday found himself under the pressure to resign with just 12 days left in office, ABC News reported.
House Democrats and the editorials of leading US newspapers like The Atlantic, Miami Herald, Washington Post, Times Union, Chicago Tribune, and USA TODAY called for his immediate removal from office under the 25th Amendment, with the House hinting impeachment proceedings.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would move to impeach Trump over his role in inciting a violent mob attack on the Capitol if he did not resign “immediately,” appealing to Republicans to join the push to force him from office.
She called Trump’s actions a “horrific assault on our democracy,” according to The New York Times.
“Today, following the President’s dangerous and seditious acts, Republicans in Congress need to follow that example and call on Trump to depart his office – immediately,” she wrote. “If the President does not leave office imminently and willingly, Congress will proceed with our action.”
However, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said in a Twitter thread on Friday that impeaching Trump in his final days would do more harm than good, adding that it would be “unsuccessful” in the Senate.
“If Speaker Pelosi pushes impeachment in the last days of the Trump presidency, it will do more harm than good. I’m hopeful President-elect Biden sees the damage that would be done from such action,” Graham said.
Meanwhile, Trump on Friday said he would not attend Biden’s inauguration on January 20.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the inauguration on January 20th,” he tweeted.
Reacting, Biden said it was a good thing.
“One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on. It’s a good thing him not showing up,” Biden was quoted by CNN as saying.
According to the New York Times, only three US presidents have skipped their successor’s swearing-in: John Adams in 1801; Adam’s son, John Quincy Adams, in 1829; and Andrew Johnson, a Democrat who sat out the 1869 inauguration after he was replaced in favour of Republican Ulysses S Grant.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Friday, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, said the “criminals” who stormed the US Capitol would be held accountable in accordance with the rule of law in the US.
“Our heartfelt gratitude to the many citizens of Nigeria who sent messages of support during Wednesday’s difficult hours. The enduring friendship and partnership between the United States and the people of Nigeria will endure and thrive as we work to perfect our union and our democracy,” she said.
Also, following the latest developments in American democracy, the Peoples Democratic Party has said the triumph of the democratic institutions in the US should serve as a lesson for Nigeria.
In a statement on Friday signed by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, and titled, ‘Triumph of US Election is a Lesson to APC, says PDP…Tasks President Buhari on Stronger Institutions,’ the PDP said the US election served as a strong lesson to corrupt and power-drunk leaders in “the All Progressives Congress that no matter how desperate they seek to manipulate the system, the will of the people and the constitution will prevail in the end.”
According to the opposition party, it was time for the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), to “check all acts that weaken our institutions and encourage the manipulation of our security, judiciary, legislative and electoral bodies.”
