NEW YORK — New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Tuesday night said she would vote again to remove President Donald Trump from office, and hammered Republicans who haven't stood up to him.
"I've been so disappointed in my Republican colleagues because they refuse to stand up to President Trump, time and time again," Gillibrand said in an interview with political anchor Errol Louis on Inside City Hall. "I have not seen the kind of backbone and spine that I would have liked over the last four years."
Gillibrand said she saw a "small glimmer of hope" when some Republican members of Congress, after the attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters last Wednesday, withdrew their objections to the Electoral College results. But a majority of Republican members of the House objected to at least one state's Electoral College votes, and few Republicans in Congress overall, as of Tuesday night, publicly backed the invoking of the 25th Amendment or impeachment to give Trump the boot.
For her part, Gillibrand told NY1 if impeachment comes to the Senate, she is prepared to vote against Trump like she did last year in the impeachment trial after Trump was accused of withholding military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation of Joe Biden.
"I would certainly vote to remove him. I think he is a dangerous person," Gillibrand said of Trump.
Like fellow Democrats, Gillibrand accused Trump of having committed a crime by telling his supporters to march on the Capitol, and she says she thinks he committed a crime in pressuring Georgia election officials to overturn the state's presidential election result.
A vote on impeachment is expected in the House on Wednesday, but it's not clear when it would happen in the Senate. Although right-wing extremists have been posting on social media about plans for demonstrations and marches — and encouraging violence — on the U.S. Capitol and state capitols this weekend and the days leading to Biden's inauguration, Gillibrand says she is not expecting a repeat of the chaos in Washington D.C.
She told NY1 while she thinks the Capitol Police were not prepared and did not expect the level of violence it saw from the mob of Trump supporters, she expects to see much more security going forward. Security has been heightened in D.C. since the siege, and several states, including New York, are sending additional National Guard troops to the Capitol.
Gillibrand also described to NY1 her experience hiding from the attackers, saying she and her Senate colleagues got out "just in time" before the mob breached the chamber while they were sheltering in place.
"We were able to evacuate through the tunnels under the Capitol, all the way to one of the Senate office buildings. And then we sheltered in a committee hearing room that didn't have any windows," she said. "A couple of the criminals had ties, things to bind someone, what you would use to take a hostage."
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Watch the full interview above.
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