January 11, 2021 Media

CBS Denver: ‘This man is clearly a danger’: DeGette says effort to impeach Trump is moving forward

DENVER (KDVR) — Just one day after a mob stormed the steps of the U.S. Capitol and rioters entered the building forcing a lockdown, elected officials including Rep. Diana DeGette are pushing for President Donald Trump to be impeached again.

DeGette told FOX31’s Keagan Harsha that she was sitting in the gallery of the House listening to her fellow lawmakers debate when all of a sudden the person next to her tapped her on the shoulder and let her know rioters were trying to scale the walls of the Capitol.

It wasn’t until lawmakers were handed gas masks and then heard gun shots that things really got serious, she said.

DeGette described crawling across the chamber to escape as a small handful of Capitol police tried to hold back the marauders.

“Then we all had to run to the end of the gallery and then we had to run out and I saw some pictures of this later. We had to run out through this group of Capitol police and then down about eight flights of stairs and then through the tunnels to a secure location. It was nuts,” she said.

DeGette said she and her colleagues spent six hours together in that secure location.

She says it was a scary day, but says it’s her anger at the president for what she says was inciting the rioters.

“This man is clearly a danger and I know people say, ‘It’s only days.’ But there’s a lot someone who is unstable like he is could do in 13 days. He has the nuclear codes,” she said.

That means impeachment, in DeGette’s mind.

“I presided over the last impeachment and I am very happy to do it again and this time make it happen,” she said.

As for the people, namely Republicans, who elected and have defended Trump?

“I think the Republican Party really underestimated how unhinged Donald Trump is and I think they were deluding themselves when they thought he wouldn’t actually take action. He’s been inciting these people to do this for weeks,” she said.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday, DeGette said via Twitter that she is “moving forward” with introducing Articles of Impeachment against the president.