Former President Donald Trump faced criticism from officials from both parties on Sunday after calling for the “termination” of parts of the Constitution for his lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
Trump, who announced last month that he is running for president again, made the claim over the weekend on his Truth social media platform.
“A massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for 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 condone, rigged and rigged elections!”
Incoming House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday called Trump’s remarks bizarre and extreme and said Republicans will have to make a decision about whether to continue embracing Trump’s undemocratic views.
“Republicans are going to have to sort out their issues with the former president and decide whether they are going to break with him and go back to some semblance of reasonableness or continue to lean toward extremism, not just Trump, but Trumpism,” Jeffries said.
Trump, who was the first president to be impeached twice and whose term ended with his supporters storming the Capitol in an attempt to stop the peaceful transition of power on January 6, 2021, faces to an escalation of criminal investigations, including several that could lead to prosecutions. Among them, the investigation into the classified documents seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago, and ongoing state and federal investigations related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
When asked about Trump’s comments Sunday, Rep. Mike Turner, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said he “vehemently” disagreed and “absolutely” condemned the comments, saying that they should be a factor when Republicans decide who should lead their party in 2024.
“There is a political process that has to go forward before someone is a favorite or someone is even the party’s nominee,” he said. “I think people are certainly going to take a statement like this into account when evaluating a candidate.”
