The National Association of Manufacturers, a powerful Washington business group, condemned the violence taking place on Capitol Hill and said that Vice President Mike Pence should weigh trying to remove President Trump through the 25th Amendment.
“The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy,” NAM President Jay Timmons said in a statement. “Anyone indulging conspiracy theories to raise campaign dollars is complicit. Vice President Pence, who was evacuated from the Capitol, should seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy.”
The 25th Amendment of the Constitution sets forth a process by which Pence can become the acting president if Trump is unable to govern.
NAM, which previously enjoyed “unfettered access” to the White House and Republican congressional leaders, according to Business Insider, lambasted Trump for inciting violence “in an attempt to retain power.”
“Armed violent protestors who support the baseless claim by outgoing president Trump that he somehow won an election that he overwhelmingly lost have stormed the U.S. Capitol today, attacking police officers and first responders, because Trump refused to accept defeat in a free and fair election,” Timmons added. “This is chaos. It is mob rule. It is dangerous. This is sedition and should be treated as such.”
The Capitol Hill complex went into lockdown on Wednesday after planned “Stop the Steal” protests devolved into a violent breach of the building — smashing windows, breaking into office, looting rooms, and forcing an evacuation of Pence and lawmakers as staff and reporters were told to shelter in place.
Trump repeatedly stoked the chaos throughout the day, repeating false claims of widespread voter fraud and telling his supporters that “we will never give up” and “we will never concede.”
After the Capitol Hill complex was breached, Trump made several appeals to law and order and asked his supporters for peace.
National Guard troops have been activated and deployed to the capital.
The Washington Examiner reached out to NAM for further comment.
