Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Bill Keating was forced to take cover in his office on Wednesday when the U.S. Capitol was breached by a mob of pro-Trump extremists. Keating spoke to Boston Public Radio on Thursday about his experience and how Democrats are calling for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office.
Keating was just leaving his office to go to the Capitol building when he received alerts on his phone from Capitol police about the insurrection, he noted.
"There were protesters the afternoon before, and I started talking to Capitol police officers, D.C. police officers — even the Supreme Court police officers — and I kept asking, 'So what do you have planned?'" he said. "They were confident at that point. They said 'We've got it taken care of,' and so that was my understanding the afternoon before. But they clearly lost the ability to control at that point the next day."
Many lawmakers are saying that Trump incited his supporters to violence. Keating said that it would be appropriate for Pence to invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, which would strip Trump of the powers of the presidency.
"All things considered, it's appropriate. It's the right measure to do. I think he's clearly a threat at this point to our democracy, and he should be removed from office," Keating said. The implementation of that is something that, were it to occur, would be in the hands of Vice President Mike Pence and high cabinenet officials, he noted.
"The chances of that are not great," he said. "But to the extent we provide our voice on what should be done, if that could ever affect the Vice President or the cabinent, then I think it offers that support."
