Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) on Sunday took his stance on President Trump having “committed impeachable offenses” further by calling on the sitting president to resign, following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol earlier this week that Trump incited, during an interview on CNN.
Toomey is the second Republican senator to suggest that Trump resign. On Friday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) called on Trump to resign.
Appearing on CNN Sunday morning, Toomey said he agrees with Murkowski in calling for Trump’s resignation.
“I think at this point, with just a few days left, it’s the best path forward, the best way to get this person in the rearview mirror for us,” Toomey said.
Toomey said that although “that could happen immediately,” he is “not optimistic it will.”
Toomey reiterated his argument that Trump committed impeachable offenses, but expressed doubts about the practicality of the House moving ahead with impeachment proceedings this week.
“I don’t know as a practical matter it is actually even possible to do an impeachment in the handful of days that are left. It is likely if the House does pass articles of impeachment, we wouldn’t get them until I don’t know Tuesday or Wednesday,” Toomey said. “We are less than one week to go at that point.”
Toomey added that he is also unclear whether it is constitutionally permissible to impeach the President after he has left office.
“So there may not be a viable impeachment route at this point,” Toomey said. “But certainly, he could resign and that would be a very good outcome.”
Toomey said that Trump should face consequences, however, and that the President potentially faces “criminal liability” and “has disqualified himself from ever certainly serving in office again.”
“I don’t think he is electable in any way,” Toomey said. “And I don’t think he’s going to be exercising anything like the kind of influence that he has had over the Republican party going forward.”
Asked later about he has regrets about not doing more to stop Trump from inciting the attack on the Capitol on Wednesday, given how the Pennsylvania senator called the President a “demagogue” in light of the Capitol siege, Toomey insisted that the President’s behavior after the election was wildly different than his behavior before.”
“He descended into a level of madness and engaged in activity that was absolutely unthinkable and unforgivable,” Toomey said.
Watch Toomey’s remarks below:
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey says he thinks President Trump should resign: "I think at this point with just a few days left it's the best path forward" #CNNSOTU https://t.co/3LzY9t4nuO pic.twitter.com/XIjPVqUdK9
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 10, 2021
