Coons: Trump has ‘lost the right to be president’

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) called on President Trump to resign or be removed from office on Sunday, telling CBS’s Margaret Brennan that Trump had “lost the right to be president” after a violent riot overwhelmed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

On “Face the Nation,” Coons explained that if Trump does not resign he would support either impeachment by Congress or Vice President Pence invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office.

“I’ve called for President Trump to do the right thing, finally, and resign. Or for Vice President Mike Pence to secure the next 10 days through the 25th Amendment,” Coons said.

“But many of my Republican colleagues are now calling for healing and for us to come together,” the senator continued, adding: “I’ll tell you that there can only be reconciliation with repentance. And I think the single most important thing that Republicans in Congress that helped facilitate this widespread conspiracy…is to stop those lies, and to persuade their followers and their supporters that President-elect Biden is the duly-elected president of the United States.”

“Many of my Republican colleagues are now calling for healing and for us to come together. I’ll tell you that there can only be reconciliation with repentance.” — Sen. Chris Coons pic.twitter.com/dl6Sg1lNUQ

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 10, 2021

When asked if he would vote to convict the president should a trial be held in the Senate, he responded, “Yes.”

House lawmakers, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), are preparing an article of impeachment charging Trump with inciting Wednesday’s deadly riot.

The president and his allies in Congress, particularly Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and others involved in the effort to challenge the results of the 2020 election during last week’s joint session of Congress, have faced widespread bipartisan criticism in the days following Wednesday’s riot.