President Trump's niece, Mary Trump, says he should be "barred from ever running for public office again"
With only a few days left in President Trump's term, Congressional Democrats are calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office. Now, Mary Trump, the president's niece, says that Mr. Trump must be held accountable for Wednesday's Capitol assault and "barred from ever running for public office again."
In an interview on CBSN's "Red & Blue," Trump told host Elaine Quijano that the riot on Capitol Hill was a "direct result of [the president's] unwillingness to concede the election. His insistence that it was stolen or rigged."
"And it was also the direct result of the abject cowardice shown by his own party, and its failure to stand up to his egregious lies around this election," she said.
Trump said that, while she was not surprised by the violent events of January 6, she was still "horrified."
Trump, a psychologist who authored the book "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Most Dangerous Man In the World," explains that Mr. Trump's response to his electoral defeat comes from the stigma their family placed on losing.
"Losing was literally the worst thing you can do," she said. "So, for the first time in his life, Donald finds himself in a situation in which, not just that he's lost, but he cannot for the life of him figure out a way to turn the loss into a win — something he's always been able to do in the past because he's perfectly happy to lie, cheat and steal his way to a win."
Trump says this is making her uncle "increasingly desperate and dangerous, in my view."
Trump also criticized the Republican Party for not doing enough to hold the president accountable. She said that their refusal to take action after the "violent insurrection" has left Mr. Trump feeling "enabled to do whatever he feels he needs to do in order to stay in the Oval Office."
The president and vice president met for the first time on Monday since the riots, but Mr. Trump never contacted Pence during the siege of the Capitol to check on his safety. Trump said this did not surprise her.
"It doesn't matter that Mike Pence was fulfilling his constitutional duty," she explained. "It matters, in Donald's mind, that Mike Pence betrayed him. It shouldn't surprise Mike Pence, either. He's seen what happens to people who don't toe the line 100% of the time."
Trump said she was not surprised to learn Mr. Trump would not be attending President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, either. She said attending would mean "ceding the spotlight" to Mr. Biden, and it would also amount to a concession.
"One thing we need to remember, despite all these videos ... He has not yet conceded the election," Trump said. "So he's still clinging to the idea that he can change that result somehow."
She concluded by saying that Mr. Trump must be "barred from ever running for public office again."
"Because if he is allowed to, then as soon as Joe Biden is sworn in, Donald is going to start his 2024 campaign," Trump said. "I don't believe he intends to run, but he's going to pretend to run and he will continue to have way too big a platform from which to continue to incite his supporters."
