Rep. Derek Kilmer on why he voted to impeach President Donald Trump after Capitol riot
UPDATE: On Thursday, Rep. Derek Kilmer released a statement explaining why he supported the historic second impeachment of President Trump.
“Tuesday night, the House passed a resolution urging Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from power. Pence refused to act on behalf of the American people. That’s why yesterday, I joined my colleagues in the House in voting to impeach President Donald Trump,” Kilmer said. “I do not take this vote lightly. Indeed, in our nation’s history, only three presidents have been impeached. Donald Trump will now be the first president in history to be impeached twice.”
The vote for impeachment passed 232-197 with ten Republicans crossing the aisle to join.
After Wednesday’s mob attack on Congress, lawmakers from Washington state, including Kilmer, Sen. Patty Murray, and Gov. Jay Inslee, joined more than 100 members of the House of Representatives in calling for President Donald Trump to be removed from office under the 25th Amendment.
In a phone interview Kilmer, a Gig Harbor Democrat who represents the 6th congressional district, told The Gateway he considers Trump to be “unfit for office.”
“What we saw yesterday was another dark, dark chapter in what has been a dark four years,” Kilmer said. “What was particularly troubling yesterday was that the President incited it. This was not just an attack on a building, it was an attack on our democracy. I think January 6, 2021 will go down in history as the day of the failed Trump insurrection.”
Removing a president is largely unprecedented in American history. The 25th Amendment allows for the removal and replacement of the president of the United States due to death or failing health.
Lawmakers are citing the last of its four sections, which reads :
“Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”
Section 4 has yet to ever be invoked, but lawmakers may soon change that, if enough share Kilmer’s concerns about what they consider an unprecedented crisis.
“The concern is that over the remaining two weeks of his term, he could do further damage to our republic,” Kilmer said. “This is a time to go into our constitutional kitbag and find what we can to control Donald Trump and to prevent further damage to our country.”
Kilmer told The News Tribune that he sheltered in place by himself inside the Capitol complex several hours after the lockdown went into effect.
“It’s shocking,” Kilmer said. “I find it repugnant to my sensibilities to see, I think, an abuse of the people’s house.”
Kilmer went on to say that he would be committed to seeing through his democratic duties no matter what.
“This is not going to get in the way of the will of the voters,” Kilmer said. “This is not how our system works. We don’t get bullied by angry people who lost elections. Order will be restored. And then the work will continue to follow the will of the American people.”
Kilmer acknowledged the gravity of trying to remove president from office, saying the move is one one he “doesn’t take lightly at all.”
“Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures,” Kilmer said.
Kilmer had previously voted for Trump’s impeachment and said he would do so again though he considers the 25th amendment removal to be a preferable path.
“I think Congress should be prepared to impeach and remove the President if the Vice President and cabinet fail to fulfill their constitutional duty,” Kilmer said. “If you recall, from two years ago from beginning to end it took a month. I think invoking the 25th amendment is the more direct and immediate act that could be undertaken.”
Andrew Hammond of The News Tribune contributed to this story.
Reach Chase Hutchinson at chase.hutchinson@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 2:42 PM.
