Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who supports impeaching Trump in light of the Capitol siege, said she believes 'every minute' that he is 'in office represents a clear and present danger'

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) participates in a Census Town Hall at the Louis Armstrong Middle School in Queens, New York City, U.S., February 22, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly — U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) participates in a Census Town Hall at the Louis Armstrong Middle School in Queens, New York City
Reuters

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she believes President Donald Trump should be impeached because "every minute" he stays in office "represents a clear and present danger" to Congress and the Country.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would could move to impeach Trump this week if Vice President Mike Pence does not answer the chamber's calls to invoke the 25th amendment.
"It is an act of insurrection. It is an act of hostility," Ocasio-Cortez said. "And we must have accountability because without it, it will happen again."
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she believes President Donald Trump should be impeached in light of the Capitol siege because "every minute" he is in office "represents a clear and present danger."

Ocasio-Cortez appeared on a Sunday segment of "This Week" with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, where she said she believes impeachment should be scheduled for the president.

"Our main priority is to ensure the removal of Donald Trump as president of the United States," Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday. "Every minute and every hour that he is in office represents a clear and present danger, not just to the United States Congress but frankly to the country."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter obtained by CNN that impeachment proceedings could be set into motion as early as this week if Vice President Mike Pence does not respond to calls to invoke the 25th Amendment, which would allow the vice president and some of Trump's cabinet to depose the president.

In addition to removing the president, Ocasio-Cortez said the House is also considering the "complete barring" of Trump from "running for office ever again" and to prevent him from "pardoning himself from those charges that he was impeached for," she said during the interview.

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Some GOP lawmakers wrote a letter to President-elect Joe Biden, asking him to formally request that Pelosi and the House stop their pursuit of Trump's impeachment for a second time "in the spirit of healing and fidelity to our Constitution."

The New York congresswoman said the "process of healing" doesn't require dropping a potential impeachment, but "accountability."

"We have to understand that what happened on Wednesday was insurrection against the United States," Ocasio-Cortez said. "That is what Donald J. Trump engaged in, and that is what those people in the Capitol engaged in. So when we talk about healing, the process of healing is separate, and in fact, requires accountability."

"So if we allow insurrection against the United States with impunity - with no accountability- we are inviting it to happen again. That is how serious it is," she said. "Perhaps my colleagues weren't in that room, perhaps my colleagues were not fully present for the events on Wednesday, but we came close to half of the House nearly dying on Wednesday."

Ocasio-Cortez said if another head of state had "ordered an attack" on Congress," then lawmakers would not allow it to go unanswered, and therefore, Wednesday's siege on the Capitol should not be treated that way.

"It is an act of insurrection. It is an act of hostility," she said. "And we must have accountability because without it, it will happen again."