WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the Pentagon’s top general on Thursday and urged him to add extra precautions to stop what she called an “unhinged” President Trump from using the nuclear codes.
In a long statement, Pelosi said she made the drastic call to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley as pressure mounts for Trump to step down or be removed from office via the 25th Amendment after the deadly US Capitol siege.
“This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) wrote.
“The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy,” she wrote.
Pelosi received assurances from Milley that there were safeguards in place in case Trump wanted to launch a nuclear attack in the final days of his presidency.
Milley, a decorated and respected general, reportedly considered resigning in June over his role in President Trump’s photo op at a historic church outside the White House after protesters were forcibly cleared by police.
The top general apologized, saying it was a “mistake” to appear in his combat fatigues and walk through the park with the president.
Dozens of Democrats and a growing number of Republicans have called on Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump, claiming he is no longer fit for office.
Echoing threats she made on Thursday, Pelosi said that Congress would move forward with new articles of impeachment if Pence did not act — comparing Trump’s acts to those of President Nixon in the Watergate scandal.
“Yesterday, Leader Schumer and I placed a call with Vice President Pence, and we still hope to hear from him as soon as possible with a positive answer as to whether he and the Cabinet will honor their oath to the Constitution and the American people,” she wrote.
“Nearly fifty years ago, after years of enabling their rogue President, Republicans in Congress finally told President Nixon that it was time to go. Today, following the President’s dangerous and sedition acts, Republicans in Congress need to follow their example and call on Trump to depart his office — immediately,” she went on.
“If the President does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action,” she warned.
It’s unclear if Pence and his cabinet will take such a dramatic and destabilizing act in the final two weeks of Trump’s presidency.
At least two cabinet members and multiple staff members have quit in protest over the president’s handling of the deadly riot which killed five people. White House senior counselor Hope Hicks is also reportedly heading for the exits.
A growing number of Democrats, including House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) have announced their support for impeaching Trump as early as next week, but any move is likely to follow the same fate as the impeachment of Trump last year over the Ukraine pressure scandal.
Assistant House Speaker Rep. Katherine Clarke (D-Mass.) said a floor vote could come next week.
“Donald Trump needs to be removed from office. And we are going to proceed with every tool that we have to make sure that that happens to protect our democracy,” she told CNN.
“If the reports are correct, and Mike Pence is not going to uphold his oath of office and remove the president and help protect our democracy, then we will move forward with impeachment to do just that.”
Republicans are still in control of the Senate until the end of the month and are likely to vote against any measure, or stall a trial altogether, even as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and such Trump stalwarts as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-NC) rebuke the president’s claims the election was stolen from him and his decision to rile the mob of supporters at a rally before they attacked Congress.