McMaster rejects calls for Trump’s removal from office, confident he’ll transfer power
Gov. Henry McMaster said Thursday he did not support the forced removal of President Donald Trump from office, as some federal lawmakers have called for in the wake of Wednesday’s assault on the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump agitators.
McMaster, a steadfast Trump ally who in early 2016 was the first statewide elected official in any state to endorse the president’s election bid, said through a spokesman he thought Trump would voluntarily leave office Jan. 20 and did not need to be removed.
“He is confident that the federal government will proceed as set forth in the Constitution,” spokesman Brian Symmes said, clarifying the governor was referring to the transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden.
When asked whether McMaster condoned Trump’s statements that incited the mob that ransacked the Capitol or believed his continued presence in the nation’s highest office posed a threat to the country, Symmes directed a reporter to a statement the governor made Wednesday on Twitter shortly after hundreds of pro-Trump protesters pushed their way past police and into the Capitol as lawmakers inside debated the certification of Biden’s election victory.
“It is hard to believe what we are seeing at our beloved Capitol,” McMaster tweeted. “We should be alarmed — but also deeply saddened. Protest is honored, but violence cannot be tolerated. Those who believe in America should leave the building immediately. The rule of law must prevail.”
Trump’s actions have drawn condemnation from former White House officials like William Barr and South Carolina’s Mick Mulvaney, who announced Thursday he was leaving his administration post, as well as both Democrat and Republican lawmakers, like Lindsey Graham.
A growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers, including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have called on Vice President Mike Pence to take the unprecedented step of invoking the 25th amendment to initiate Trump’s removal from office.
“This man is deadly – to our democracy and to our people,” Pelosi said Thursday, adding that the House was prepared to vote on articles of impeachment if the vice president didn’t immediately invoke the 25th Amendment, which may be used to remove a sitting president who is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
A two-thirds majority vote of both houses of Congress would be required to remove Trump and install Pence as acting president.
U.S. Rep. James Clyburn said late Thursday that he supported invocation of the 25th amendment, but due to both time and circumstances, impeachment might be more appropriate.
U.S. Rep. William Timmons, R-Greenville, on the other hand, said the prospect of removing Trump from office was “ridiculous.”
“We’ve got a lot of problems. Let’s start focusing on those, not grandstand with politics,” said Timmons, who was one of five South Carolina congressmen who voted Wednesday in favor of objections to Biden’s electoral victory. “I don’t take somebody seriously when they use those types of words. Seriously, impeach the president two weeks before we swear in the next president?”
At the state level South Carolina Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, an Orangeburg Democrat, said that while he holds Trump responsible for inciting the riot at the Capitol Wednesday, he wasn’t sure impeaching him or invoking the 25th amendment made sense at this point.
“I think potentially an impeachment or removal might just throw more fuel on the fire,” he said. “It may not be the best way to approach it if you’re seeking stability.”
Rather, Hutto suggested it might be best for Trump to leave Washington and spend the rest of his presidency at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida resort.
“Just asking him to voluntarily do what he does best — go to his house and play golf — may be the best thing for the next 12 days,” he said.
Hutto said he was disturbed by Trump’s role in animating the riots Wednesday, but believes the American people can withstand any tactics the president may have in store over his remaining days in office. Trump addressed a massive crowd of supporters who came to the Capitol to protest his loss and repeated claims of voter fraud that courts have rejected for lack of evidence, telling them, “We will never concede.”
“This is a strong country,” Hutto said when asked about the possibility of Trump rallying his supporters again in the coming days. “We’ll handle it somehow.”
South Carolina House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, a Richland County Democrat, took an even harder line against Trump’s actions Wednesday and called for his arrest and criminal prosecution.
“(Trump’s behavior) is the very definition of inciting a riot,” he said Thursday. “It’s clearly reckless endangerment. I don’t know what law enforcement officer doesn’t see it that way.”
Rutherford called the riots an attempted coup and said if Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden had encouraged thousands of terrorists to commandeer the Capitol, he’d be facing a drone strike right now.
“We would take a life for the very thing that Donald Trump did, and he still sits in the White House,” he said.
Reporter Maayan Schechter contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 6:36 PM.