President Trump should resign immediately and, if he doesn’t, the House of Representatives should quickly impeach him, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said this afternoon during an Albany news conference.
federally elected officials from New York who he asked to join in calling for Trump to resign.
Cuomo was reacting to Wednesday’s invasion of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, which resulted in five deaths including an officer in the Capitol Police who was beaten by rioters with a fire extinguisher.
The mob of several thousand had been incited by Trump and others during a rally at The Ellipse, a national park just south of the White House grounds. The group marched to the Capitol and invaded the building, forcing a halt to Congressional business. They broke windows and doors, vandalized offices, trashed other areas and broke into the legislative chambers.
Cuomo decried Trump supporters for bringing the Confederate flag into the Capitol and wearing clothing emblazoned with racist and antisemitic slogans. He cited a sweatshirt saying “Camp Auschwitz,” referring to the Nazi extermination camp, and one with the symbol “6MWE,” which stands for “Six Million Wasn’t Enough” and refers to the number of Jews exterminated by the Nazis.
Cuomo accused Trump of unleashing the hatred held by some of his supporters that had long been kept hidden.
“It’s so horrific on so many levels,” the governor said. “This is a moment in history and we are going to be defined by what we did in this moment …. Certainly, federal elected officials are going to be defined by this moment. It’s what statement we make as a people about what we believe about government and democracy.”
Cuomo then said that he believed Trump needs to resign.
“I believe if he doesn’t resign, I believe he should be impeached,” he said, adding that the fact that Trump only has 13 days left in office is not the point. “The point is the statement that we do not tolerate this as a government. That’s why impeachment.”
Cuomo said that impeachment will bring great anguish to the country and another period of hyper political activity and division.
“I call on every New York federal official to call for President Trump’s resignation,” Cuomo said. “Don’t put the country through an impeachment. Don’t wait for a cabinet action. Call for him to resign. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, I don’t care if you’re a Republican, I don’t care what you are. You’re a government official. You take an oath. You saw the anarchy. You saw the hatred. You saw the vandalism. You saw the theft. You saw the breakdown of society. You saw this nation look like a joke internationally. Put your politics aside and do what any reasonable American would do.”
Cuomo said no reasonable American who saw what Trump did would think it was okay. He urged the elected officials not to respond to the voices of hate who wanted to see the government overthrown.
“Respond to what reasonable Americans, reasonable New Yorkers believe, responsible New Yorkers believe. Put principle over party,” Cuomo said. “There is no Republican or Democratic elected official, federal official, who can look in the mirror today and say, ‘I condone what happened, I condone what this president did.’ None. You support an orderly transition of power? President Trump resigns. Vice President Pence takes over and governs for the remaining days. That’s an orderly transition of power and a statement of principle.”
