building a better bay area, for a safe and secure future, this is abc7 news. welcome to our daily program called getting answers. we are asking experts your question every day at 3:00 to get answers for you at real time, at 3:10 we will get in did details of invoking the 25th amendment and what else can be done to remove him from power and we will answer your covid-19 questions from if variant to the vaccine. furs, the c -- first, the cries are getting louder from republicans and democrats to remove trump from power after yesterday's siege on power. >> i'm calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment.

if the vice president and cabinet do not act, the congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. >> all right will, so that was house speaker nancy pelosi, she spoke this morning, calling on vice president mike pence to invoke the 25th amendment. that is the way the constitution allows for a process by which a sitting president can be removed from power, not removed from office, but from power, there is a difference. exactly how it's that constitutional provision that will work. and is it doable with 13 days left to the trump presidency. and, what are the alternatives. we have congress woman barbara lee from the bay area, oakland, she is joining us and connecting with us shortly. in the meantime, i want to read you her statement that was issue odd what she calls the violent c on -- the violent coup attempt, she was inside the house chamber yesterday like many other members of congress were.

and she will talk about what she went through. i'm going to just say, she released this message, i'm appreciative of all the support and fortunate that my staff and i are safe. i was swiftly rushed off the floor of the house and moved to a secure location following the riot c riotous breach of the capitol brought on by donald trump, there was an armed standoff, tear gas deployed in the capitol rot num rotunda and people scaling the walls of the u.s. capitol, we all saw that. she said, donald trump is activeactive ly seeking to dismantle our faith in institutions and democracy itself. we are having problems gre s iss of connecting with their. so we will have is her on later.

you have seen our constitution expert before, you have spent quite a bit of time studying the 25th amendment, we ask you to walk us through the process. we annoy itknow that it's a way remove a sitting president from power. >> the relevant part is section powe 4. it's designed for situations in which the president is unable on do his job. his or her job given something like a medical crisis or a mental health crisis, something of that nature. and out gives the power to the vice president and a majority of cabinet and that is understood to mean the 15 heads of the executive department. so a majority of those would be eight of those and the vice president. to decide that the president is unable to fulfill his duties. the president remains in office. but all of his functions are then being performed by the vice

president. >> professor, i will put up a graphic that you were kind enough to share, to help us have a visual. vice president pence has to initiate it and he has to go to the cabinet and talk to them and get the majority, 8 out of 15, to get them to declare the president is unable to discharge his duties. at that point what? >> it move-ss to trump, he can agree or disagree. if he disagrees with them that he is unable, they can insist that he is unable and in case during those first four days mike pence performs all the fufrpgz functions of the presidential office even though trump is officially in office. after four days in mike pence and the majority of the cabinet says he is unfit, the ball will go to congress and congress has up to 21 days whether to decide this, retain the suspension of

the powers of president, we will not get there here, because that is long after he leaves office. >> once it's in congress' hands do they have to agree by 50% like a simple majority? 50 plus one or do they need the 2/ 2/30 majority to remove him if he disagrees. >> normal . >> it doesn't matter, because we have two weeks so congress just needs to drag their heels and let the suspension to remain until donald trump is no longer president of the united states. >> meaning he is in office and however, he has no powers of the presidency? >> exactly. >> no access to the nuclear code, nothing like that? >> no access to the nuclear code, no decision making. no appointing on or firing people, nothing of the sort. >> let me ask you, how likely is it that given the fact that yesterday, i know you were up late in the night as was i, in

the house, even after what happened, more than half the republican house members wanted to object to the certification of the results in certain states. so, given that, how likely is it that you have is enough congressional r with it? >> i think the first hurdle happens long before we get to congress and that is getting mike pence and more than half of the cabinet members on board. what we are seeing just now is a wave of resignations and people fleeing the ship. we have just heard the transportation secretary chao is leaving. basically the people know what is coming and they know if mike pence can be brought on board, they are going to be required to make a difficult decision. they want to shirk that responsibility and therefore, they are fleeing the ship. it's going to be difficult to get to that high bar of even getting mike pence and eight members of the cabinet to agree that trump should be suspended. >> all right, well, always

appreciate your legal expertise and walking our viewers through the very complicated process, it remains to be seen how far congress will get with this. so, thank you so much, appreciate it. >> we do have congress woman barbara lee now joining us to talk more about both the 25th amendment, something that she is calling for as well ask her experience at the capitol, we will take a short break on the air, you can join

and we are back. we all watched yesterday's events at the capitol with mixed emotions, a lot of anger, a lot of sadness. that's what we saw from outside the capitol, but what was it

like for those inside. joining us now to skodiscuss he experience and this issue and the 25th amendment is congress woman barbara lee, it's truly good to see you. >> yes, i'm still in washington, d.c., how are you? >> i can see you left heart in san francisco, we are relieved that you were unharmed. you have been in congress for 22 years, during that time, there's been other threats. but was what happened yesterday beyondamong you had ever in imagined could happen there? >> yes, and you are right, nice to be with you, what happened yesterday, is, is really, was a stain on america, and i have been here through many, many horrific experiences. one of which of course was the terrible result of 9/11.

and yesterday, was, was very dangerous, first of all. it showed how a president once he incites violence, once he gives directions to those that want to overturn the government and that's what it was. a coup attempt. it showed us that people follow his lead. and he incited violence, he was the one who told these, this gangsters, these mobs, these protesters, these anarchists in many ways to come down to the capitol carrying trump signs. confederate flags and they were putting up a noose, yes, it was dangerous, it was harrowing, it showed that there are many gaps that have to be chosed

of security pretotocols. >> i want to talk more about that, to look at the photos, it's stunning. our mouths are wide open looking at congressional representatives with the tear gas masks on. your office is ransacked. you know, you are hiding like under the seats. lying on the floor. that was you, right? you were in the house chamber, tell us what you went through in the moments after and how you got to safety? >> sure, i was one, not everyone was on the chamber floor, but we were there due to the electoral college, you know, debate and counting of the votes. and it was very tense. first of all, i saw a lot of movement and i just have to say, i wore my tennises shoes yesterday, because i had been watching social media and listening to donald trump, and leading the security precautions and so, i expected something.

but not what took place. what happened though on the floor was of course, when the security personnel started to talk to us and started talking to the speaker and saw them whisk her out, and they locked the doors and told us to stay put, shelter in place. i knew things were getting pretty dicey. and finally we were told we could not leave but that the mob was moving up through statuary hall, that there was tear gas few fired and to get our gas masks out, which we did. i did not put mine on because we were told to hold them until you know, given directions. but also, that there was a chance once they got to the door that we may have to go down and get on the floor. physically. so, during that period, there was a lot of movement in the house, we heard a lot going on

and i was watching my iphone in terms of some of the reports about what was taking place outside. and after i looked, i said, oh, no, this is going to be serious so get ready. at that point, the security forces opened the door, told us to evacuate quick with ly. >> if you were monitoring social media and anticipated wh ed tha was going to escalate, why didn't capitol pieolice not hav that, to beef up. to prevent that? >> we are going to lead with that on the appropriation's committee. i think they are overwhelmed, and i have no idea, but we have to get to the bottom of it. because the security breaches were great and we knew that, you know, this was something was going to take place, i was concerned because the perimeter

was not secured far enough away from the capitol. you know, i have been through security training, i know a bit about what need on to happen. and the perimeter was much too close to the capitol. so, i'm not sure what took place, we are conducting an investigation, because clearly this is a very dangerous moment. not only domestic terrorists can see the vulnerabilities and international also and it's unacceptable to have it take place in the manner in which it did, this was an attempted coup. >> you have made it clear that president trump is primarily responsible for what transpired and you are among the voices that demand he is removed from office, on the at least power, even though it's 13 days left of his presidency. talk to me about that. >> sure. 13 days is enough time for him to do more damage to incite more violence, he has his hands on

the black box with the nuclear codes. i'm not saying he would do this. but anyone who is such a national security threat, we have on to insist that they be removed from office. i have been saying it for four years though. that he was a national security threat. i supported a resolution and a bill calling for a 25th amendment protocol to be established. so, it's nothing new for many of us, we have been watching this man, we know who he is. we know he is a national security threat and we know his mental state. and we talked to mental health professionals. my background is psychiatric social work and i have a knowledge of what is taking place in his mind and so it's a dangerous moment. he needs to be removed from office, and he needs to be removed as quickly as possible. >> 25th amendment takes superintendent mike pence and half the cabinet to agree that he cannot serve anymore. how about impeachment, if 25th

amendment is not working, are they working on impeachment articles? >> we are talking about all the angles. he has to be convicted in the sentence, and we have to be able to do this very quickly. i'm for double impeachment, we are looking at every aspect. we cannot afford for it to wait, we have on do it quickly. we have to is parallel tracks and i learned that vice president pence said he did not support executing and implementing the 25th amendment, i heard that. and so, we have got to look at all levels of accountability first of all, because he has to be held accountable for this. this cannot set a precedent for future presidents that they can get away with it. >> we have a minute left, i will end with this, we just got breaking news that ap is reporting that capitol police chief steven son will be

resigning as of january 16th and house speaker pelosi called for that. apparently he will be resigning. what was your impression of how capitol police or federal law n enforcement dealt with the mob, in the way they treat toded the, and in the way that they have treated protest ers in the past? had. >> i was clear early on, looking at the disparities and the inequities and the differences in how the black lives matter movement, peaceful protesters are treated. for example, the national guard is always called out in minutes, sometimes ahead of protests. they barely made it to the capitol, and the president did not even allow for the defense department to send the national guard, we have to go to different surrounding jurisdictions. when you have peaceful black lives matter protesters, there's

h hostility, they are treated differently. we saw primarily white protesters that were given a pass in many respects. they were allowed to take selfies and allowed to bombard offices and cause physical damage, which you know, unfortunately, four people died as a result. so, there was, there was a huge inequity. huge disparity in how these, this mob was treated yesterday verse peaceful protesters. and i am just incensed and we have to include this as part of our investigation. >> all right, thank you once again for your time. and once again, just want to express that we are so happy that you are doing fine. and you are unharmed. >> thank you, and let me take a minute to thank my constituents and family and friends. there was a lot of love yesterday, i was getting a lot of notes from people, checking on me, telling me they were praying for me, and just, it was amazing so i just wanted to let everyone know how deeply grateful i am for hearing from

them. >> thank you for using our platform to share that message, appreciate it, take good care. >> thank you. >> all right, bye-bye, when we come back, we will turn our attention to another crisis facing us, the covid-19 pandemic and the surge. how about poor fred wilson? what a shame. so soon after retiring. i hear his wife needed help with the funeral expenses. that's ridiculous! -he had social security. -when my brother died, his wife received a check from social security, all right-- for $255! the funeral costs were well over $8,000. how on earth did she pay for it? fortunately, my brother bought additional life insurance -before he retired. -whew! i bet that cost a pretty penny, huh? not with colonial penn. coverage options start at just $9.95 a month. less than 35 cents a day. i have it myself. we both do. -both of you? -that's right. neither of us had to answer any health questions

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welcome back, with the country's attention on the insurrec insurrection, we cannot forget about the other crisis we are facing, covid-19. i want to start with yesterday's riot at the capitol, i'm sure you saw the picturesthere and the arguement that it's no different than the protests. your opinion? >> i have a hard time understanding the argument. we have to look at the base reason that both parties were arguing for. and i would like to qualify, this is a riot, and the blm movement as a pro at the time.

there was a big difference. but the underlying frustration with black lives matter is racism that exists and as a physician, i have seen it move in to public health and i see the affects of racism every day when i take care of patients, whereas what was perpetuated by misinformation that was debunked. what happened yesterday doesn't exist in this eco system of logic. >> i understand what you are saying. and misinformation whether it's on the political front or the medical front does hurt very much so. okay, i want to bring about this new variant, no, i don't want to bring it about, i want to bring it up. it is already here, unfortunately. reports are coming out that u.s. is not looking hard for the new ones here, why is that? >> i wish i had a clear cut answer of why why it is. it oddly feels reminiscent of

our frustrations last spring, where we were wondering what is with the lag of testing and now we are have same discussion, but with surveillance, with looking at the virus, the infections coming and looking at the genetic material. the word is out on there and there's supposed to be a specific team dedicated to genomic surveillance, hopefully the states had will be s -- the on top of it. we have it here, it's more widespread than we have actually detected it. >> start with a new segment, what are you calling this? >> we are now going to call it the delete that tweet. i don't know if the graphic is put up there. what i wanted to do with you is just take up questions and comments, i'm getting on social media, about the vx that is leading to vaccine hesitency, again, perpetuated by

misinformation. i don't know if it's up there for the viewers on this segment of delete that tweet. the quote i saw, this was on twitter that the vaccine was rushed. and this common theme of the vaccine being rushed is leaving people to think that safety was skipped and it's not safe. this is not true. what people did not get to hear throughout the entire process of was that, the technology to build the vaccines the mrna vaccine has been worked on for ten years. it was like plug and play, all they needed was the genetic code of the virus which they got in a week after the cases broke out in wuhan, we have never seen worldwide collaborations and funding like we have for this specific vaccine goal and also, it does not help when the president comes on out and says, it's operation warp speed and that we should celebrate the rushing of the virus or the vaccine. and people need to remember, that you cannot cut corners on clinical trials. on safety checks and on all the independent reviews that have to take place to get the vaccines

approved. >> no, the development the -- >> record breaking time, but it's save. >> the development was done right and the distribution process, slower than what we were hoping for. so, i want to ask you, what do you think about the thought being discussed. we have to delay the second dose. -- >> i don't think it addresses the underlying issue. if you told me that everyone could get a vaccine got one and we hit the max supply, that is one issue. but the americans have not gotten the full supply of the vaccines out there. so this is not the bottleneck. >> okay, what about the risks if there are any. if we end up going in an approach where people could get two bodoses from two different vaccines. >> we will talk about the risks. the isk are of mixing and

matching the vaccines, we don't have data. we did not look to see if it's that effective and the risk to giving people all one dose, we then delay the second dose that we know we need for optimal immunity and we risk not coming back. >> we have more

and we are back, thank you so much for joining us on the interactive show today, getting answers. we talked live about congress woman barbara lee, and she talked about invoking the 25th amendment on the president and we talked to a law professor how it on could happen.

although we are getting indications now that vice president pence not interested in doing that. tonight, the fallout after one of the darkesthistory. the mob storming the u.s. capitol, fueled by president trump's own words, telling them to be strong, to march to the capitol, that i'll march with you. instead, he watched from the white house and tonight, that's where he remains, amid new calls that he be removed from office. democratic leaders saying, this is urgent. tonight, the president-elect joe biden saying he will not weigh in on the 25th amendment, leaving it up to the vice president mike pence and the president's cabinet. and this evening, biden calling those who stormed the capitol the domestic terrorists. republicans including lindsey graham calling them domestic terrorists, too, saying they're not patriots. some of president trump's closest allies now breaking from the president, including former attorney general bill barr who said the president orchestrating this mob is