WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump faced rebuke Sunday from officials in both parties after calling for the “termination” of parts of the constitution over his lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
Trump, who announced last month that he is running again for president, made the claim over the weekend on his Truth Social Media platform.
“A massive fraud of this type and size allows the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the constitution,” he wrote. “Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not tolerate, false and fraudulent elections!”
House Democratic Leader-elect Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday described Trump’s statement as strange and extreme and said Republicans will have to make a choice whether to continue to embrace Trump’s anti-democratic views.
“Republicans will have to figure out their problems with the former president and decide whether they want to break away from him and return to some kind of reasonableness or continue to lean into the extremism, not just Trump, but Trumpism,” Jeffries said.
Trump, the first to be impeached twice and whose tenure ended with his supporters violently storming the Capitol in a deadly attempt to stop the peaceful transition of power on January 6, 2021, faces a escalating criminal investigations, including several that may lead to prosecution. They include the investigation of classified documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago and ongoing state and federal investigations related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Trump announced last month that he would run for president again in 2024.
Asked about Trump’s comments Sunday, Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said he “strongly” disagrees and “absolutely” condemns the remarks, saying they should be a factor when Republicans decide who will lead their party. in 2024.
“There is a political process that has to go forward before someone is a frontrunner or someone is even a candidate for the party,” he said. “I think people will definitely take a statement like this into consideration when evaluating a candidate.”
Rep. Mike Lawler, RN.Y., also objected to the remarks, saying it was time to stop focusing on “the grievances of past elections.”
“The Constitution was established for a reason, to protect the rights of every American,” Lawler said. “I think the former president would be wise to focus on the future if he wants to run for president again.”
Trump’s comments came after Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, said he would reveal how Twitter engaged in “suppression of free speech” in the run-up to the 2020 election. But files released Friday that focused on the tech company’s confused reaction to a story about Biden’s son Hunter, does not show that Democrats are trying to contain the story.
The White House on Saturday attacked Trump, saying, “You can’t only love America when you win.”
“The United States Constitution is a sacred document that for over 200 years has guaranteed freedom and the rule of law in our great country,” spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. “To attack the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation.”
Jeffries appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” Turner spoke on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” and Lawler was on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
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