Rep. Adam Kinzinger steps forward as first Republican to call for Trump's removal via the 25th Amendment

• GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger is the first Republican lawmaker to publicly call for President Donald Trump's removal following the Capitol siege.
• Kinzinger said the 25th Amendment should be invoked to remove Trump.
• "Sadly, yesterday it became clear that the president not only abdicated his duty to protect the American people and the people's house, he invoked and inflamed passions that gave fuel to the insurrection we saw here," Kinzinger said in a video on Twitter.
• Kinzinger has also come out in support of impeaching Trump over the events at the US Capitol.

Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois on Thursday called for President Donald Trump's removal via the Constitution's 25th Amendment over the Capitol siege.

"Sadly, yesterday it became clear that the president not only abdicated his duty to protect the American people and the people's house, he invoked and inflamed passions that gave fuel to the insurrection we saw here," Kinzinger said in a video on Twitter. "When pressed to move and denounce the violence he barely did so, while, of course, victimizing himself."

He added: "All indications are that the president has become unmoored, not just from his duty, or even his health, but from reality itself. It is for this reason that I call for the vice president and members of the Cabinet to ensure that the next few weeks are safe for the American people, and that we have a sane captain of the ship."

Kinzinger is the first GOP lawmaker to publicly call for Trump to be removed. He is an Air Force veteran who has been among the few in his party willing to openly criticize Trump during his presidency.

—Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) January 7, 2021

Kinzinger joins a growing list of Democrats who've called for Trump's removal via the 25th Amendment, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in the wake of an attempted coup by pro-Trump rioters at the US Capitol on Wednesday.

The mob stormed the Capitol shortly after Trump delivered a speech reiterating his baseless claims of mass voter fraud, which prevented Congress from carrying out its constitutionally mandated duty to certify the Electoral College vote. Lawmakers were evacuated during the chaos but returned later in the day to complete the certification - the last step in cementing President-elect Joe Biden's 2020 victory.

In light of the insurrection, top officials in the Trump administration have been considering pursuing the extraordinary measure of using the 25th Amendment to remove the president, CBS News, ABC News, and CNN reported.

Invoking the 25th Amendment requires the support of the vice president and a majority of sitting Cabinet members.

Under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution, if they come together and conclude the president is not able to "discharge the powers and duties of his office," the vice president then becomes acting president.

The vice president and a majority of sitting Cabinet members would then have to write a letter to the president pro tempore of the Senate, Chuck Grassley, and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to inform them they do not believe the president is no longer able to fulfill his duties.

Two-thirds of both houses of Congress would then have 21 days to vote on whether keep the vice president in charge. If they did not vote to that effect within that period, then power would automatically transfer back to the president.

A number of congressional Democrats have also pushed for Trump to be impeached following Wednesday's events. Kinzinger on Tuesday joined the growing calls for Trump to be impeached. He's among at least three House Republicans supporting Trump's impeachment over the Capitol siege.

"On January 6, 2020, the President of the United States encouraged an angry mob to storm the United States Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes," the Illinois Republican said in his statement announcing support for impeachment. "This angry mob turned violent and caused destruction to our nation's symbol of democracy. This insurrection led to countless injuries and the death of several people, including two of our U.S. Capitol Police Officers."