In a letter to House members, Speaker of the House Pelosi said Friday that she spoke to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley about available precautions that would block “an unstable president” — Donald Trump — from “ordering a nuclear strike,” or even accessing nuclear launch codes and starting other military hostilities, reports Reuters.
“The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said in the letter.
According to CNBC News, a spokesman for the Office of the Joint Chiefs said Pelosi had called Milley, and “he answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority.”
Pelosi also said she had not heard back from Vice-President Mike Pence about whether he would agree to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office “for his incitement of insurrection and the danger he still poses.” She said, “We still hope to hear from him as soon as possible with a positive answer.”
Pelosi, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democratic lawmakers have demanded that Trump be removed from office, and the sooner, the better, for his role in inciting the riots that took place on Wednesday – either by invoking the 25th Amendment or by impeachment.
In her letter, Pelosi told lawmakers that, “Nearly fifty years ago, after years of enabling their rogue President, Republicans in Congress finally told President [Richard] Nixon that it was time to go.”
“Today, following the President’s dangerous and seditious acts, Republicans in Congress need to follow that example and call on Trump to depart his office – immediately. If the President does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action.”
A number of lawmakers have pushed for limitations on the president’s authority to launch a nuclear strike, according to Politico. This would include requiring additional to sign off on a request for a nuclear launch and making the “no first use of nuclear weapons” an official U.S. policy.
