Got some good, that's a good one. OK,
we are recording. Are you ready?
I'm ready senator. First of all,
I want to start out with were you
at the Capitol yesterday? Were
you in Washington?
I was yeah, I was in the Capitol.
Certainly it's an experience that I will
never forget and everybody who was there
will have shared the same experience.
Basically, I was sitting at my desk,
in the Senate Chamber.
We had begun debate on issues related
to the counting of the ballots and to
be there just was fairly typical debate.
Then suddenly to have Secret Service.
Rush, the vice president,
pulled him off of the podium.
We had Sergeant of arms.
Jump up on the podium and ask
us well to remain in place.
There was an emergency and then
order folks to immediately lock
all the doors of the chamber.
So it was.
It was an intense time,
and certainly it was
all like what's going on, right?
I can only imagine.
And so today, you know, today,
the day after a lot of people are
reflecting and trying to still
process what exactly happened
yesterday and now you have added
your voice to a growing chorus.
Of asking the vice president to invoke
the 25th Amendment to talk about that.
Well, I I do believe that we need
to invoke the 25th Amendment.
Clearly we have a president
who's not fit for office.
So what we saw yesterday was outrageous
and the actions of this President
really starting months ago as he
continues to put out conspiracy
theories and false allegations of
voter fraud in the election and
all of the evidence is clear that
this was a fair and free election.
He continues to falsely claim it is stolen.
He continues to really Stoke the
emotions of many of his supporters.
And making them angry as a result
of his false allegations.
And yesterday was the culmination
of that as he was calling people
to come to Washington DC,
sending out tweets,
it's going to be wild come here
his speech beforehand,
sending people to the capital,
and then the violent attack on a capital,
something we've not seen in this
country to have that kind of violence
against what the which is really
the Citadel of our democracy,
the United States Capitol.
Now
doing this is, you know, is not an.
Easy process and it's not a fast process.
Is my understanding.
He's only got 13 or 12 days left
in this presidency. I've also.
We're also hearing reports that
the vice president is not even
taking a phone call from Pelosi.
Do you think this is more a symbolic
gesture of calling for this,
or do you really realistically
think that this could actually
happen given the timeframe?
Well, certainly it's a very short timeline,
but it's important to send a message
really to future presidents that this
type of behavior is simply unacceptable
in a democracy that you can't have a
United States president sending folks
to the US Capitol who will engage in a
violent attack because of his incitement.
That's something that we need to condemn
roundly as Americans have for the future.
It's important to show
there's accountability.
You know, it's not just elected officials.
Folks, including the National
Association of Manufacturers,
which is a very conservative
group of business people.
Certainly a lot here in Michigan
with a manufacturing state.
Many people may remember the former
Governor Engler was actually the head of
the National Association in past years.
They have said that it is or they
have asked the vice president
to invoke the 25th Amendment,
saying that this is a threat
to our democracy,
something that cannot be tolerated,
and it requires extreme actions.
At this point.
The other thing
that has been brought up today and again.
Maybe a little bit of Monday
Monday morning quarterbacking but
a lot of people are just still
trying to wrap their heads around.
Why, why wasn't?
The Capitol Police better prepared
for this kind of insurgency.
Do you have any thoughts on that?
Well, we have to get to the bottom of
how this happened in the 1st place,
so there's no question.
I'm currently the ranking member of the
Homeland Security Committee as a Democrat.
And now that we have taken the majority,
I will be on the incoming chair of
that committee and I plan to have an
investigation to ask a very important
questions as to why the Capitol Police
were able to secure the perimeter.
But the building itself as well to
allow folks to come in. These are.
These are important questions to ask.
We need to get to the bottom of it.
And we have to make sure that
this can never happen again.
And if it happens again,
we could also have folks that are
more heavily armed and could create
considerable mayhem in the capital.
We have to make sure that that
building is secure and that the
people's business can be conducted
there in a secure fashion.
Thank you so much for your time.
We really appreciate it and
stay safe and thank you.
I appreciate thank you, take care.