Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed in a Sunday appearance on ABC’s “This Week” that “we came close to half the House nearly dying” during the Wednesday riot at the U.S. Capitol.
When asked by host George Stephanopoulos if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should schedule a vote on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, Ocasio-Cortez confirmed that she should.
Many Democrats, including Pelosi, have already voiced their support for impeachment if the White House cabinet fails to invoke the 25th Amendment against Trump, who called on his supporters to march on the Capitol at the “Save America” rally before the riot on Wednesday. (RELATED: Rep. Hank Johnson: If Trump Supporter Wasn’t Shot ‘We Would Have Been Swinging From Those Railings’)
“I absolutely believe that impeachment should be scheduled for several reasons,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “One, of course, our main priority is to ensure the removal of Donald Trump as president of the United States. Every minute and every hour that he is in office represents a clear and present danger not just to the United States Congress but frankly to the country.”
Ocasio-Cortez then emphasized that “in addition to removal,” Democrats are talking about the “complete barring” of Trump “running for office ever again” as well as preventing him from “pardoning himself from those charges that he was impeached for.”
Trump has reportedly said in private conversations he will seek the White House again in the 2024 election.
Stephanopoulos pointed out that “several Republican members of Congress” wrote a letter to President-elect Joe Biden asking that he “formally request that Speaker Nancy Pelosi discontinue her efforts to impeach President Donald J. Trump a second time.”
“Well, you know, I think there’s a couple of things,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “One is we have to understand that what happened on Wednesday was insurrection against the United States. That is what — that is what Donald J. Trump engaged in and that is what those who stormed the Capitol engaged in. And so when we talk about healing, the process of healing is separate and in fact requires accountability.”
She went on to say that “perhaps my colleagues weren’t in that room, perhaps my colleagues were not fully present for the events on Wednesday” referencing the Republican members who wrote the letter to the President-elect. She didn’t provide further details as to the location of those members during the riot.
“We came close to half of the House nearly dying on Wednesday,” she said. “And if a foreign head of state, if another head of state came in and ordered an attack on the United States Congress, would we say that should not be prosecuted? Would we say there should be absolutely no response to that? No. It’s an act of insurrection. It’s an act of hostility. And we must have accountability because without it it will happen again.”