Speaker Nancy Pelosi told House Democrats a senior Pentagon official assured her there are guardrails in place to prevent Donald Trump from launching nuclear weapons in a call she initiated following Wednesday’s deadly riot by his followers at the Capitol.
The Pentagon contends Ms Pelosi initiated a call with Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Miller to discuss how to prevent the president from using the military or launching an atomic weapon, worried about his mental state following a rally during which he urged the eventual rioters to “fight” his election loss.
The speaker reportedly told House Democrats on a Friday call to discuss options to remove Mr Trump before his term expires on 20 January that General Milley assured here there are safeguards in place to prevent an unwise nuclear launch.
There are others in the process that have to verify the president’s launch codes.
But, according to a Federation of American Scientists fact sheet, a launch is up to the commander in chief.
The comment on her call with her members came after her office released a letter to her caucus describing steps to contain or remove Mr Trump.
"This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike,” the speaker wrote. “The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy.”
The letter was released minutes before she was to join her caucus on a telephone conference to discuss their options for impeaching Mr Trump following the violent and deadly riot carried out at his behest by his loyalists on Wednesday. Five people have died so far after Mr Trump at a rally protesting his election loss urged his backers to “fight” to overturn the results in favor of President-elect Joe Biden.
The president used a Thursday evening video to which he reportedly reluctantly recorded saying there will be a “smooth” and “orderly” transition to Mr Biden’s administration. But he fired off a Friday tweet essentially defending the rioters.
“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future,” the president tweeted. “They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
