-House Democrats unveiled the text
of their impeachment resolution today
and called for the removal of President Trump
through the 25th Amendment.
Meanwhile, the Republicans who incited a violent insurrection
to overthrow the government responded by telling everyone
it was time to move on.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
♪♪
The sitting president of the United States
is the leader of a violent insurrectionist movement
who incited a seditious mob of right-wing terrorists
to ransack the Capitol and overthrow American democracy.
And every day that he remains in office,
he's a threat to continue inciting violence
and breaking the law,
including possibly pardoning himself and others.
Impeachment and removal are the bare minimum
we should expect from our selected leaders.
And today House Democrats began that process,
only to be blocked by Republicans.
-Today, House Democrats
tried to pass a resolution by unanimous consent,
calling for Vice President Mike Pence
to invoke the 25th Amendment.
Republicans objected, so it failed.
In response, Democrats have now introduced
one article of impeachment against the president
for inciting insurrection.
A vote could come as soon as Wednesday.
-A source close to Vice President Pence tells CNN
that he has not ruled out
potentially invoking the 25th Amendment,
but there is some concern on his team
about what President Trump could do,
perhaps even worse, should they start moving on this.
-I'm sorry, you're afraid of what else Trump could do?
He already incited a violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol.
If that's not cause for removal, what is?
Are you gonna wait until he shows up
in the fur Viking hat, so we can all
listen to Ted Cruz pretend to condemn it?
[ As Cruz ] The President and I often don't see eye-to-eye
when it comes to sartorial choice,
but it's just a Viking hat.
He's not carrying a Confederate flag.
And I notice now on the TV in my office
that he does have a Confederate flag.
But it's not like he's waving it around proudly.
Oh, well, there he goes with the waving.
You rarely see him do anything with that much gusto."
[ Normal voice ] Also, why are we waiting for Pence to act?
He spent four years by this president's side
as he's repeatedly excused or incited violence
and sowed the destruction of our democracy.
I feel like we're a group of schoolchildren at the zoo,
waiting for the sloth to do something.
He's not gonna do anything. Let's go see the polar bear!
Why are we giving him 24 hours?
There's nothing in the Constitution
that says, before you impeach the president,
you have to give him a 24-hour head start.
This isn't hide-and-seek, although if it was,
I'm betting it would be pretty easy to find Trump.
He would definitely hide in a hamper
and then yell, [As Trump] "Don't look in the hamper.
You should try the basement. Many people are saying it."
[ Normal voice ] In fact, the last time
Congress impeached a deranged white supremacist
who incited violence against his political enemies,
Andrew Johnson, they actually did it
before they wrote up formal articles of impeachment.
There's nothing in the Constitution
that says you can't do it again.
I'm pretty sure you could hold a vote on a bar napkin
that says, "Get the [Bleep] out."
There's no reason to wait for Mike Pence to do anything.
In fact, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi
tried calling him last week to beg him to remove Trump
through the 25th Amendment,
and he wouldn't even come to the phone.
-Speaker Pelosi and I
tried to call the vice president this morning
to tell him to do this.
They kept us on hold for 25 minutes
and then said the vice president wouldn't come on the phone.
-We were kept on the line for 20 minutes.
"He's going to be here in a minute, a minute, minute."
Well, he never did. -They kept you on hold
for 20 minutes? -At least.
-The speaker of the House and incoming Senate majority leader
called the vice president to beg him
to immediately remove from office
the president, who's an urgent threat to national security.
And he put them on hold
like they were calling Verizon customer service.
Can you imagine that call?
-In a few words, tell us what you're calling about.
-Yeah, the 25th Amendment?
-I heard, "Upgrade my Internet." Is that correct?
-No, I said, "The 25th Amendment."
-I heard, "Add the platinum movie package
with STARZ and Cinemax on Demand for $9.99 a month."
Is that correct? -No.
I'm calling about removing a president
who incited a violent insurrection from office.
-I heard, "Stream episodes of 'The Office' on Peacock."
Is that correct? -No, and I don't appreciate
the unauthorized in-house advertising!
I have Premium Plus --
all the content, none of the ads.
[ Laughter ]
This is an urgent matter of national security.
And the bare minimum for the preservation
of our crumbling democracy. Today the FBI warned
of more possible violence across the country,
and the National Park Service closed the Washington Monument
for two weeks, due to credible threats
to disrupt Joe Biden's inauguration.
And yet, today, Republicans blocked the Democrats'
resolution calling for the removal of Trump,
and for the most part, have come out against impeachment.
And with only a few exceptions, the Republican Party
is nearly unanimous in its belief
that even in the aftermath of a deadly insurrection
incited by the president, and with more threats
on the horizon, we should all just move on
and let the man who incited a terrorist attack
on the U.S. Capitol walk away consequence-free.
-House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy
today said, impeaching the president
with just 12 days left in his term
will only divide our country more.
-You have Senator Lindsey Graham,
who, on the other foot, is against impeachment.
He says that's going to do more harm than good.
-My personal view is that the president
touched the hot stove on Wednesday,
and is unlikely to touch it again.
-Roy, allow me to be blunt. You're a moron.
Donald Trump doesn't learn lessons.
He famously paid someone else to learn lessons
so he could get into college. And no one loves
touching hot stoves more than Donald Trump.
He touches them with his entire face.
I can't believe -- And yet, of course,
I can believe that these ghouls are hanging on to
the "he learned his lesson" myth.
Susan Collins said the same thing
during the last impeachment and famously that worked out great.
Forget learning his lessons. This guy needs to be
tried for sedition and jailed, and strapped to a gurney
like Steve Buscemi in "Con Air."
And we're not just learning about future threats.
With every day that passes,
we're also learning about just how violent and menacing
and deadly and heinous the riot really was
and how much worse it could have been.
A Capitol police officer told BuzzFeed,
"That was a heavily trained group of militia terrorists
that attacked us." And all the while,
the president was watching it, encouraging it, and enjoying it,
to multiple accounts. And so if you're a public figure
in any capacity, but especially someone
who is complicit in building or encouraging
this violent insurrectionist movement
that nearly toppled the United States government,
the most important thing for you to be focused on right now,
obviously -- obviously --
is how many followers do you have on Twitter.
-For conservatives, there's suddenly a lot of complaints
that they are losing -- abruptly losing --
a dramatic amount of followers.
For example, Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch
says he's lost 22,000 followers.
Our colleague at Fox, Brian Kilmeade,
lost 30,000 followers in four hours.
-Other high-profile Republicans are upset
they're losing followers online after Twitter cracked down
on accounts that spread QAnon conspiracy theories.
-Friday or Thursday I was at a million followers on Twitter.
I had one million followers on Twitter
just a couple days ago, and now I'm down to 922,000.
-I lost, over the weekend, 55,000 Twitter followers.
-Oh, my God! You lost followers on Twitter?
Someone call 911! Scratch that!
Call 9111 for special emergencies!
AKA 911 Premium Plus.
I know I ask this a lot,
but, uh, what the [Bleep] is wrong with you people?
A violent mob of seditionists storm the Capitol
and attempt to overthrow democracy,
people died, and you're whining
about losing followers on Twitter?
"They also took away all my Gold Bars on Candy Crush.
You know how hard it is to beat the Jelly Queen
and Cupcake Carl?
Thanks a lot big tech."
If a mob of violent terrorists lays siege to the Capitol
and threatens to return, and your biggest concern is
the number of Twitter followers you lost,
you're a sociopath.
And that's not just me saying that.
I'm pretty sure that's in the DSM.
Who monitors their Twitter follower account
that closely, anyway? The only thing more sociopathic
that complaining about lost Twitter followers
is bragging about gained Twitter followers.
"Pretty good week. I added about 20.
I had some pretty sweet cat content."
Also -- and this is just a tip for the future --
if Twitter announces that they're banning Nazis
and insurrectionists and crazy conspiracy-theory nut jobs,
maybe don't complain at the exact same time
that you're losing Twitter followers?
That doesn't sound quite as sympathetic
as you think it does. "Well, well, well,
the police start rounding up the arsonists,
and suddenly, I lose customers
in my store Kerosene & Matches R Us."
And if you thought it couldn't get any more nauseating
and self-serving than that, you were wrong,
because when they weren't complaining
about losing followers on Twitter,
the very same Republicans who spent months
spreading monstrous lies about the election,
who fed their rabid base a steady diet
of unhinged conspiracy theories and fantasies
and violent retribution, who incited
the insurrectionists' riot that breached the Capitol
for the first time in 200 years,
had the gall to turn around
and start calling for unity and healing.
-The White House just released that statement,
saying impeachment would, in the White House's words,
only serve to further divide the country,
and that this is a time for healing and unity.
-Now it is time for America to unite, to come together.
-We're at an important point.
I'm very concerned about where we're at.
I hope -- I hope -- we can begin to come back together.
-We have a chance here to start over.
President Trump did the right thing last night,
in the last 24 hours.
Instead of trying to match what President Trump has done,
the radical Democrats are talking about
another impeachment that will destroy the country
even further.
-We've got to be able to bring volume down.
Speaker Pelosi talking about, "Well, let's impeach
the president," with one week to go,
and to try to drive this, is trying
to drive a wedge further, is trying
to make a difficult situation more difficult.
And right now, we need to turn the rhetoric down,
not try to turn the volume up.
-And let me begin by doing my part
to begin the healing process, bring down the temperature,
and tone down the rhetoric by saying this.
Wait. First, can I have calming music, please?
[ Soft music plays ] Thank you.
[Bleep] you, you cretinous insurrectionist gargoyles!
Of course, you guys want to move on!
The kid who [Bleep] himself at prom
is the one who always wants to shift the conversation
to everyone's summer plans.
"So, Gary, it happened during the Macarena?"
"It doesn't matter when it happened!
Tell me about your internship."
You guys incited a violent mob that rampaged across the Capitol
trying to overthrow the government,
and now you want us to see unity and healing?
I'd call you craven, soulless ghouls,
but in the case of these seditionist dip[Bleep],
they're more like soul-devouring ghouls.
"I love a good Southern-fried soul
with a side of peach tea and pecan pie."
How can we find unity
with people who literally want a confederacy?
But when it came to faux, self-serving
"Let's lower the temperature" rhetoric,
the cake was taken by future former First Lady Melania Trump.
-First Lady Melania Trump has just released a statement
regarding last week's protests. She writes, in part,
"I am disappointed and disheartened
with what happened last week. I find it shameful
that surrounding these tragic events
there's been salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks,
and false misleading accusations on me
from people who are looking to be relevant
and have an agenda."
-And let me make something clear!
Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat,
seditionist or law-abiding citizen,
you leave this poor woman alone!
And this woman and this one!
Because any one of them could be her.
And better safe than sorry. I mean, how dare you?
Salaciously gossip about this woman
after she "be best" for you!
For you! She's bester than any of you!
She reher-- She refurbished and "reherbished."
[ Laughter ] That's how best she is!
Did them both! Two for one. Saved your money!
She refurbished the White House tennis pavilion for you!
[ Laughter ] Not for her.
You think she has time to play tennis
between sending messages via jacket
and hating Christmas with all of her heart?
At this point, the only acceptable option,
and the bear minimum for the preservation of our democracy
is the immediate removal and prosecution of Donald Trump
for sedition and the expulsion
of anyone who aided him in this coup,
including the likes of Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz,
and Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks,
who whipped up the mob into a frenzy
before it stormed the Capitol.
And then, after that, we need immediate far-reaching
structural reforms to our democracy.
If you're a right-wing pundit,
maybe try to summon the same sense of
outrage and urgency over losing our democracy
that you feel over losing...
-55,000 Twitter follower.
This has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪
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