Larry Hogan calls for Trump to resign or be removed from office

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Thursday that the U.S. would be “better off” if President Trump either resigned or was removed from office and Vice President Pence served out the final days of the president’s term.

“Look here’s where I am. I think there’s no question that America would be better off if the president would resign or be removed from office and if Mike Pence, the vice president of the United States, would conduct a peaceful transition of power over the next 13 days until President [Joe] Biden is sworn in,” Hogan said at a news conference.

Hogan’s remarks came a day after a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to upend the certification of the Electoral College results affirming Biden as the president-elect. The rampage sparked brawls with police and forced the evacuation of lawmakers, congressional staffers and others in the building.

Addressing supporters shortly before the rioters pushed their way into the Capitol, Trump encouraged them to “walk down to the Capitol” as Congress prepared to certify the election results. 

Hogan, a critic of Trump and a potential contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, said that the president had challenged the very notion of a peaceful transfer of power by continuing to insist after his loss that the election was “rigged.”

“Over the last two months, this sacred tradition has come under attack from our own president, who has chosen to fan the flames of hate and mislead millions of voters through lies and conspiracy theories rather than face the realities of his own defeat,” Hogan said.

With his remarks on Thursday, Hogan joined a growing number of elected officials who have come out in support of Trump’s removal in the hours since the Capitol was breached. 

Earlier on Thursday, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) became the first Republican congressman to call on Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, a process that would allow for temporarily removing the president from office and placing Pence in charge.

Other lawmakers, including Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have called for Trump to be impeached and removed from office in the wake of Wednesday’s violence. 

The breach at the Capitol has also caused tension within the Trump administration itself. A handful of administration officials have resigned, including Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who in a letter attributed her exit to what had transpired at the Capitol.

Speaking at his news conference on Thursday, Hogan called for a national reconciliation in the face of the unrest, blaming Trump for abdicating his responsibilities as president and inflaming tensions in the U.S.

“I think I speak for many Americans when I say enough is enough,” Hogan said. “Enough of the lies, enough of the hate, enough of the total dysfunction. Just enough. And I promise to do everything in my power to build trust in what makes this nation great; to heal old wounds rather than inflame them.”