Trump's Failure To Accept Blame For Riot 'Pathological': Schumer

Updated at 5:25 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON, DC — The FBI should place known Capitol rioters on the federal no-fly list as concern grows over threats of armed violence and "war" in the nation's capital city and at houses of government across the country, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Tuesday.

In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray obtained by The Associated Press, Schumer said the attack on the Capitol as Congress was voting to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's win was "domestic terrorism" and those responsible for it should not only be prosecuted to the full extent of federal law, but also qualify as "insurrectionists for the No-Fly List."

The New York Democrat also lambasted comments made earlier by President Donald Trump, facing a legacy as the only U.S. president to be impeached twice, who only minutes earlier said he bears no responsibility for last week's deadly assault on the Capitol by supporters — even after repeating to them his false claims about election fraud and illegal votes.

Trump, who had been ensconced at the White House since Wednesday's Capitol siege, told reporters before leaving on a trip to Texas on Tuesday that congressional Democrats pushing for his removal from office — either under the 25th Amendment or through impeachment — are to blame for what the FBI says are credible threats of violence at the U.S. Capitol and at all 50 capitols across the country in the days ahead of Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration.

“To continue on this path, I think it’s causing tremendous danger to our country, and it’s causing tremendous anger," he said.

He accepted no blame for the Capitol attack — where a police officer defending the Capitol was fatally injured, a protester was shot and killed by police, and three others died of medical emergencies — adding, "I want no violence."

The defeated president said his fiery remarks — made the day his successor's election was to be confirmed and recalled in the four-page draft of the impeachment bill against him — were "totally appropriate."

Schumer fired back at his own news conference, accusing Trump of using "a pathological technique ... used by the worst dictators the globe as ever seen" and saying he "should not hold office one day longer."

The House is meeting Tuesday to try to convince Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare Trump unable to serve, warning that a president who has relentlessly challenged Biden's win with false assertions is a dangerous threat to democracy as his presidency wanes.

Pence, who met with Trump Monday for the first time since the violent riot, isn't expected to take any action to remove the president from office. The House is expected to move swiftly Wednesday with a single article of impeachment charging him with "incitement of insurrection."

The beleaguered 45th president spoke to reporters from the south lawn of the White House Tuesday before leaving for Texas, where he hoped to shift attention away from the efforts to put an early end to his presidency and to one of its pillars: his campaign against illegal immigration.

The president is visiting Alamo, Texas, a city in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S. border with Mexico. It also is symbolic: The city is named after the San Antonio mission where a small group of Texan independence fighters fended off Mexican forces during a 13-day siege. Most of them died, but the mission became a symbol of resistance for Texans, who eventually defeated the Mexican army.

As Trump was preparing to board Marine One, the House of Representatives was voting on a resolution directing Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to remove the president from office under the 25th Amendment. It's unlikely Pence and the Cabinet will act, and the House is prepared to move forward Wednesday with a single article of impeachment, the second impeachment of Trump's tumultuous presidency.

The four-page impeachment bill draws from Trump's own false statements about his election defeat to President-elect Joe Biden; his pressure on state officials in Georgia to “find” him more votes; and his White House rally ahead of the Capitol siege, in which he encouraged thousands of supporters to “fight like hell” before they stormed the building Wednesday.

After a frosty few days, Trump and Pence met Monday evening for the first time since last Wednesday's assault on the Capitol, conducted by angry supporters carrying flags bearing Trump’s name who broke through barricades and into the inner sanctums of Congress where the three people next in line for the presidency were gathered. The mob mortally injured a police officer, bloodied and pinned another to the doorway, and body-slammed a third over a railing and into the mob. In all, five people, including a protester who was shot, died in the violence.

Capital cities across the United States are bracing for the prospect of violence after the FBI warned Monday that extremist groups are organizing armed protests at all 50 state capitols in the days ahead of Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration — set to take place at the same spot where the pro-Trump mob mounted their assault to stop the certification of his Electoral College win.

Biden said Monday he is "not afraid" of taking the oath of office outside the Capitol.

So far, the FBI has charged 18 of the rioters with felonies in an investigation that could become one of the largest ever undertaken by the agency. About 40 others have been charged in state and local jurisdictions. About 120 people have been either arrested or identified as riot participants through photos and videos, The Hill reported. An AP analysis of social media posts, voter registrations and court files show most are known longtime Trump supporters.

“It is critically important that there’ll be a real serious focus on holding those folks who engaged in sedition and threatening the lives, defacing public property, caused great damage — that they be held accountable,” Biden said Monday.

The FBI investigation is centered on whether some of the rioters intended to kidnap members of Congress and hold them hostage. Authorities are particularly focused on why some in the mob were seen carrying plastic zip-tie handcuffs and had apparently accessed areas of the Capitol generally difficult for the public to locate.

New security officials were quickly installed after the Capitol police chief and others were ousted in fallout from the extraordinary attack on the iconic dome of democracy. Two Capitol police officers were suspended and one person was arrested, said Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat who chairs the House subcommittee handling the investigation.

"There were two people suspended," Ryan told CNN on Monday. "One was the selfie officer and another was an officer who had put a MAGA hat on and started directing some people around." Ryan did not share details about the person who was arrested, and said he was not sure if the person was a police officer or a member of the National Guard.

As more details unfolded about efforts to get Trump out of office, statehouses across America braced for what the FBI warned in an internal bulletin could be armed protests at all 50 state capitols in the days ahead, some involving people who are members of extremist groups.

State capitols responded by stepping up security Monday, deploying National Guard units, SWAT teams and extra police officers as several legislatures convened amid heightened safety concerns following last week's violence at the U.S. Capitol.

“We’re keeping a look across the entire country to make sure that we’re monitoring, and that our Guards in every state are in close coordination with their local law enforcement agencies to provide any support requested," Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told reporters Monday.

Biden has said little about attempts to remove Trump from office after the insurrection that brought a temporary halt to his confirmation Wednesday as the 46th U.S. president. But the president-elect said Monday he’d spoken to Senate leaders about splitting the chamber’s time and “go a half day on dealing with impeachment, a half day on getting my people nominated and confirmed in the Senate.”

Biden said such an arrangement also would allow the Senate to work on another major pandemic response bill that would include more economic aid for Americans struggling because of the virus.

The impeachment charge against Trump marks an extraordinary turn in the aggressively populist 45th president's final nine days in office. Speaking on "60 Minutes" Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged, but did not elaborate on, "evidence" the riot "was a well-planned, organized group with leadership and guidance and direction. And the direction was to go get people.”

The impeachment charge against Trump comes as the capital city remains on alert ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has asked the Department of Homeland Security for a more coordinated federal response to the threat of violence through the inauguration.

She called the occupation by pro-Trump rioters a "catastrophic security failure" and questioned the apparent disparity between the large number of federal forces in place during the racial justice protests in June following the death of George Floyd and Wednesday's lesser federal response at the U.S. Capitol.

Bowser encouraged Americans to watch the inaugural proceedings from their television sets and computer devices rather than travel to Washington, D.C., to attend in person. The Biden administration had already scaled down inauguration celebrations because of the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

The National Parks Service said Monday it was shutting down public access to the Washington Monument until Jan. 24 as groups "threaten to disrupt" Biden's inauguration. At least 10,000 National Guard troops will be deployed to Washington, D.C., by Saturday, and another 5,000 could be requested from other states in response to what appears to be a call for protests in state capital cities next weekend. Currently, about 6,200 National Guard members are providing security in the capital city.

Pelosi warned in a letter to colleagues late Sunday that Trump “represents an imminent threat” to democracy and said the legislative branch must act with urgency to remove him.

“The horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified, and so is the immediate need for action,” Pelosi wrote.

An impeachment conviction — which would prevent him from running for federal office in the future and strip him of other benefits — might not result in Trump’s removal from office before Biden’s inauguration. However, Pelosi said in the “60 Minutes” interview with Lesley Stahl that Trump “has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him.”

“Sadly, the person that’s running the executive branch is a deranged, unhinged and dangerous president of the United States,” Pelosi said.

As more video and details are released, Americans are getting a clearer picture of the carnage inside the Capitol. “Hang Mike Pence!” some of the insurrectionists shouted as they stormed the Capitol, where the vice president was presiding over proceedings to count Electoral College votes and confirm Biden as the 46th U.S. president. Pence has been loyal to Trump through the four years of his presidency, but he defied the president when he said he didn’t have the constitutional authority to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump has claimed without evidence was fraudulent.

Outside the Capitol, the mostly white mob erected a makeshift gallows with sturdy steps and a noose. Pence’s wife and daughter were at the Capitol for the Electoral College count and were taken with the vice president to a secure location.

Pelosi, whose office was occupied and ransacked, told Stahl in the “60 Minutes” interview that her staff ran into a conference room, barricaded the door, switched off the lights and cowered under a long table for 2½ hours.

The impeachment bill — from Reps. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Ted Lieu of California, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Jerrold Nadler of New York — said Trump threatened “the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power” and “betrayed” trust.

“He will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office,” they wrote.

Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania joined Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska over the weekend in calling for Trump to “resign and go away as soon as possible.”

Toomey said he doubted impeachment could be done before Biden is inaugurated, even though a growing number of lawmakers say that step is necessary to ensure Trump can never hold elected office again.

“I think the president has disqualified himself from ever, certainly, serving in office again,” Toomey said. “I don’t think he is electable in any way.”

Murkowski, long exasperated with the president, told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday that Trump simply “needs to get out.” A third, Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, did not go that far, but on Sunday he warned Trump to be “very careful” in his final days in office.

Lawmakers warned of the damage the president could still do before Biden is inaugurated Jan. 20. Trump has not backed away from his false claims of election fraud — even though judges across the country, including some nominated by Trump, repeatedly dismissed cases and Attorney General William Barr, a Trump ally, said there was no sign of any widespread fraud.

Republicans who backed the challenges to Electoral College results in a handful of battleground states are facing increasing calls to resign. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown tweeted Saturday that Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri should resign or face expulsion, saying they have “betrayed their oaths of office and abetted a violent insurrection on our democracy.”

Missouri Rep. Cori Bush said Sunday that she planned to introduce a resolution to expel members “who tried to overturn the election and incited a white supremacist coup attempt,” citing the 14th Amendment.

“We can’t have unity without accountability,” Bush said.

Trump on Monday awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, one of his fiercest allies in Congress and the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. Jordan was one of eight House lawmakers who were part of Trump's defense team in his Senate impeachment trial last year.

But the New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick turned down the Medal of Freedom, saying he was "flattered" but citing American values and last week's U.S. Capitol siege in turning the president down.

"Above all, I am an American citizen with great reverence for our nation's values, freedom and democracy," he said.

Last week, Trump presented the Medal of Freedom to California Rep. Devin Nunes, the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee and an ardent backer of Trump's during probes into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the president's 2019 impeachment by the Democratic-led House.

Both medals were presented in private ceremonies.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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