Former GOP congresswoman calls on Republicans to back impeachment

Former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) said Tuesday that Republicans should vote to impeach President Trump in connection with last week’s deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Comstock told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that she “dare[s] any Republican” to call President Trump’s comments before the riots “totally appropriate,” referencing his defense of the remarks earlier Tuesday, his first public comments since he was banned from Twitter last week.

“I think the president should resign, but unlike Nixon he can’t even rise to that level of doing that,” she added. “I certainly would like to see the 25th Amendment used, if that could be, but impeachment looks like it’s what it’s going to need to be.”

“I still don’t think the president has any appreciation for [the fact that] in every minute he’s there, we are in danger,” she said, arguing Trump is “still a threat in how he talks to his supporters, the people who came and rioted and pillaged the Capitol, and he told them ‘you’re special people,’ he still hasn’t denounced them.”

Mitchell went on to ask why current and former Republicans were not applying more pressure on Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.

Comstock said she had discussed the matter with people in touch with Pence and his staff, saying “they seem to think it would take too long, although they’re holding it out there because of their own concerns.”

Comstock’s comments came the same day three House Republicans announced they will vote to impeach Trump on Wednesday, including Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the No. 3 Republican in the House. Comstock tweeted Tuesday that she was “so proud” of her former colleague.

So proud of @RepLizCheney and her support for impeachment: “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” #ImpeachmentNow https://t.co/8TcWfi8NTj

— Barbara Comstock (@BarbaraComstock) January 12, 2021