Hawaii lawmakers call for Trump’s impeachment

Hawaii’s congressional delegation Thursday joined a growing number in Congress in calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump for inciting Wednesday’s armed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“Trump is a danger to democracy itself,” U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii said in a written statement released Thursday. “I took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We must both initiate impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives and invoke the 25th Amendment. Our vigilance must increase, not wane, in the final days.”

Incited to violence by Trump’s false claims of election fraud and directed by his tweets, thousands of his supporters converged Wednesday on Washington, D.C., storming the Capitol building, armed with guns, and disrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s win.

Senior Trump administration officials had raised the possibility of invoking Section 4 of the 25th Amendment as early as Wednesday afternoon to have him forcefully removed from power by his own Cabinet, the Associated Press reported.

The newest member of Hawaii’s all-Democratic delegation, Rep. Kai Kahele, sworn in Sunday, tweeted Thursday: “Yesterday and for two months and for four years, President Trump has incited violence and spread lies.

“These despicable actions are a disgrace to the Office of the President. Every day he remains in office America is unsafe. I support removing him from office immediately.”

He tweeted earlier in the day that he had informed U.S. Rep. David Ciciline (D-R.I.) that he will sign the Articles of Impeachment as an original co-sponsor. “It is time to remove the President from office,” he said.

Cicilline, along with Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), began circulating Thursday the articles of impeachment. Other co-leads on the impeachment resolution include Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez (D-N.Y.).

The articles, in part, say, “Incited by President Trump, a mob unlawfully breached the Capitol, injured law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress and the Vice President, interfered with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the election results, and engaged in violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts.”

Hawaii’s U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono tweeted, “I join Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in calling for Donald Trump’s immediate removal from office.”

“If the House votes to impeach him, I’d welcome the chance to vote for his conviction a second time.”

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi characterized the situation as “an emergency of the highest magnitude.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer joined her in calling on Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s own Cabinet to allow his forceful removal.

Hawaii Congressman Ed Case, in a written statement, urged the vice president and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment but stopped short of agreeing to sign the articles.

He said he is reviewing specific impeachment proposals if it is not invoked.

Case, in a media release, said the president’s actions, “including his flagrant attempted subversion of our election process and his incitement of yesterday’s violent attack on our U.S. Capitol, cross any reasonable line into an assault on our very foundations.”

“They demonstrate that the President is an immediate danger to our democracy, our country and our citizens, justifying his removal from office for inability to discharge his duties under our Constitution.”

“That his Administration will end in thirteen days is no reason not to remove him now,” Case said, adding that the continued abuse of the power of the presidency cannot be risked.