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South Florida Democrats join chorus calling for Trump's removal under 25th Amendment

Miami Herald / Aaron Leibowitz / January 7, 2021

Following the lead of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, South Florida's Democratic representatives in Congress joined a growing number of their colleagues Thursday in calling for President Donald Trump to be removed from office in the final days of his term.

The representatives urged Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, which gives him and the president's Cabinet the authority to remove Trump from power. The calls come one day after a mob incited by Trump forced its way into the U.S. Capitol seeking to prevent a vote to certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

"Every day that Donald Trump remains in office, our democracy and national security are under threat," tweeted Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Democrat who represents a large swath of northeast Miami-Dade County and part of South Broward. "It's time to invoke the 25th Amendment."

Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who represents much of North Miami-Dade and Southwest Broward, said the vice president and Cabinet "must stand up to the man who instigated the insurrection we just saw, and remove @realDonaldTrump from office."

South Florida's two other House Democrats, Ted Deutch and Alcee Hastings — both of whom represent parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties — joined the calls for Trump's removal.

Wilson, Deutch and Hastings said they also supported Pelosi's call for the House to impeach Trump for a second time if Pence does not invoke the 25th Amendment.

"If VP Pence refuses to take President Trump's incitement of violent mobs storming the Capitol seriously, Congress must pursue its own efforts to prevent further damage. Impeachment is our way forward," Deutch wrote on Twitter.

Across Florida, eight of 11 Democratic U.S. representatives had expressed public support for invoking the 25th Amendment as of Thursday afternoon. In addition to the four South Florida Democrats, representatives Charlie Crist, Val Demings, Stephanie Murray and Darren Soto advocated for the measure.

Crist, Demings and Soto also said Congress should pursue impeachment.

"Impeachment, 25th Amendment, this president must go, and then must face criminal charges," Demings, who represents the Orlando area, tweeted Wednesday night.

Florida Democratic Reps. Lois Frankel, Kathy Castor and Al Lawson had not explicitly called for Trump's removal from office as of Thursday afternoon. Castor tweeted that Trump "can NOT remain in office any longer" and said in an interview that "impeachment or the 25th Amendment may be a remedy."

One Republican in Congress — Illinois' Adam Kinzinger — has called for Trump to be removed from office before Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20. But none of Florida's Republican members of Congress have taken that step.

Carlos Gimenez, the former Miami-Dade mayor and a freshman Republican congressman, voted after the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol Wednesday to support Trump's efforts to overturn the election results in two battleground states — a position that some members of his party rejected.

Miami Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart joined Gimenez in objecting to electors in Arizona and Pennsylvania, along with 13 of Florida's 15 House Republicans who voted. Like many of his Republican colleagues, Diaz-Balart condemned Wednesday's violence at the Capitol but did not address the president's role in inciting it.

Republican Sen. Rick Scott voted in favor of invalidating Pennsylvania's electors but not Arizona's, while Sen. Marco Rubio voted to certify the election results in both states. In statements Thursday, Rubio suggested it was time to move on — but he didn't address the growing calls for Trump's removal.

"The 2020 election process is complete & no matter who we voted for it's time to turn the page," Rubio wrote. "@JoeBiden is now officially the President-Elect of the United States."