sought to create division and americans. hearing those words of reconciliation from him is quite significant, isn't it? >> it is. this is a donald trump that we simply have not seen in four years as president. the fact that it comes now, when he is basing his biggest crisis of his presidency, and this is a president that has faced many big crises, this is the biggest, 13 days before he leaves office, just shows you how he really hung on for as long as he could doing things "his way." he finally realized this message at this moment had to begin.

i think we are going to find out in the coming hours and days what convinced him to do this and how sincerely is. bottom line, this is a tone from the president we have not seen before. anchor: what convinced him to do this? who might have convinced him to do this? in the last 24 hours, we have seen some of his closest allies, like lindsey graham, criticize him for what's happened. i wonder what kind of support he has lost after yesterday's events. >> a lot, quick frankly. he's lost a lot of support from people like lindsey graham, one of estrada strongest supporters, who defended him through everything. even him today was backing off donald trump and condemning his rhetoric that led to these riots. the bottom line is, i think this message was to two people -- to the wider american public, but also to republicans. because ultimately, it's going to be republicans, such as

lindsey graham and mitch mcconnell, that are going to decide if he stays in office for the next 13 days when a -- 13 days or not. also vice president pence, these are the republicans that have the power to potentially put the pieces into motion that would remove the president trump our. -- the president trump our -- the president from power. trying to say, you do not need to remove me from power, i've realized the mistakes i've made. i think that was his message, as well, just as much, to republicans. anchor: the u.s. house speaker, nancy pelosi, called on the vice president to invoke the 25th amendment, which basically says the president is not fit to be in office. do we know whether or not hence would have done it -- pence

would have done it? >> the reporting we are hearing out of washington is that pence was against that and it was unlikely he was going to take that step. that was even before this video message from donald trump that just came out. after this video message, the chances of pence coming out and doing the 25th amendment, invoking that, is even less now. it is pretty much off the table at this point, it is safe to say. anchor: the other issue here is, of course, nancy pelosi talked about the 25th amendment being invoked. she said if that didn't work out, they would think about impeachment. 13 days until the inauguration now. is that feasible, impeaching second term for a second time? he's already been impeached during his presidency. what are the democrats' intentions for doing this? >> it is still feasible.

that is a process that would be initiated by nancy pelosi. -- that would be feasible. initiated by nancy pelosi. given this message from donald trump, essentially conceding here, do they feel now they can accept this message, the democrats, and let him play at the -- play out the next 13 days of his presidency. we make it an hour in the coming -- we may get an answer in the coming hours. anchor: until an hour ago, we were asking what might donald trump do in the next few weeks. he says his focus now will be ensuring a smooth transition of power. the other question is, and this is a question that many had been asking over the last two months

since the november election, about what would donald trump be doing after he leaves office. any indications? there's been a lot of speculation, of course. is it any clearer as to what his ambitions are? >> no, quite frankly. the thinking is he would return to mar-a-lago, his resort home in florida. that is where he is a resident of now, he is no longer technically a resident of new york, though he still has properties in new york city and jersey and elsewhere. the bottom line is, we have not gotten any indication from trump or anyone near him on what he plans to do on january 20. we might now start to get more essentially than he has conceded. -- that he has conceded, when his plans are. but we don't know until now if he is planning to attend

president-elect joe biden's inauguration. mike pence said he would. he was intending to. but we didn't even know if donald trump would. i think now that trump has essentially conceded this, i think we will now set to get clarity on how much he plans to help president-elect biden in the coming 2.5 weeks, and if he plans to attend biden's inauguration and what president trump and soon-to-be ex president trump plans to do come january 1. anchor: looking at the bigger political picture and the republican party, you have now the democrats in control of both houses of congress. we have seen in the last 24 hours a massive backpedaling from the republicans, after the events on capitol hill yesterday, including from trump backers like lindsey graham and mitch mcconnell, who said enough is enough basically. is the republican party today in a position to completely give up trump?

not forgetting this is a man who also had 74 million americans vote for him in the election. campaign completely dismissed him, put him aside? or is it too little too late for that? >> we are going to find out, but i can say the republican party is probably facing its worst crisis as a party in decades. lesson, donald trump is -- listen, donald trump was a controversial figure even before the riots of the capital. the riots were a breaking point. the question becomes, what do the republicans do moving forward? they are in a tough spot, donald trump got more votes than any other sitting president in history. including barack obama. so he has a lot of fervent supporters throughout the u.s. the republican party now is going to have to figure out how they move forward in a post-donald trump world, where they no longer control the house of representatives, nor the

senate, nor the white house, but they have a polarizing ex-president with 70 something odd million people that just voted for him. very difficult task for the republican party. anchor: they couldn't possibly go as far as supporting impeachment, could they? >> it seems unlikely at this point with 13 days left and given this statement from trump. this was his video statement basically saying let me serve out the next 13 days, that was the subtext of this video statement. it would be hard at this point given this for republicans to go along with impeachment. you might get some, you might not. but i think this was definitely, from trump's standpoint, a long way to appeasing some of the moderate republicans ready to kick them out of office tomorrow if they could. i think this message will probably go a long way to help salvage his last 13 days. will it salvage his legacy? i do not. leave it up to the historians.

i think this was his chance to try to keep the republicans that have peeled away from him in the last 24-36 hours at least to the end here. anchor: thank you for joining us and al jazeera. breaking news out of washington -- u.s. president trump has released a new video on twitter addressing the capitol hill violence. this is the first time president trump has tweeted after his account was locked by twitter. in this video, he says those who engaged in the actions of violence do not represent the united states and will pay. he said the demonstrators who infiltrated the capital defied american democracy. this is the most important message in this video. for the first time, donald trump, the president of the u.s., calling for healing and reconciliation, saying his focus will now be on ensuring a smooth transition of power.

this is the closest he has come to admitting defeat to joe biden in november's presidential election. joe biden will be sworn in on january 20. donald trump, now saying his focus will be ensuring a smooth transition of power. all of this is coming as the fallout continues from yesterday's events on capitol hill. during which trump supporters stormed the capitol hill building. there are a lot of questions being asked as to how this was able to have been. how trump supporters were able to breach capitol hill security. the chief of the police department has resigned a day after the supporters beseeched the building. the event has left many african-americans also pointing at the start difference between how black lives matter protesters have been treated, compared to those who entered the capitol building, who were mostly white. here's this report from washington. reporter: washington's mayor

calls it an invention of the citadel of american democracy by hostile forces. >> what happened yesterday is textbook terrorism. reporter: but that's not how the thousands of protesters who attacked the u.s. capitol were treated. when black lives matter came to town last summer, this is how peaceful protesters in front of the white house were greeted. with tear gas, flashbangs grenades, and rubber bullets, police in riot gear in front of the lincoln memorial. one president trump on wednesday urged the crowd of thousands to march to the capital to demand that congress overturn his election loss -- >> we are going to the capital. reporter: trespassers, some carrying weapons, broken to the capital while it was in session, smashing doors and windows, invading the office of nancy

pelosi and stealing laptops. capitol hill police retreated, as the intruders took over, unchallenged. kristin thomas used to work in the senate. she participated in washington's black lives matter protests. >> this is not a blm protest. they should be in jail. the worst is that they would be dead. that is the reality of the situation. certainly, would not have been able to go to their hotels, certainly not to their home states. reporter: security forces did shoot one woman to death as an armed group broken, three others that of medical emergencies, while the rest continued on their rampage -- died of medical emergencies, while the rest continued on their rampage. some walked around freely for hours. when it was over, simply walked out. some protesters were escorted out. furious at police. >> what would your grandfather think of you? >> the government hates the.

reporter: -- hates you. reporter: there was tear bags and flashbangs, but few arrests. there were 427 over three days in black lives matter protests in washington. >> the direct link between what's premises organizations and law enforcement is that they are one and the same. the reason -- that's what you don't see the. police acting fast. -- the police acting fast. reporter: after it was all over -- >> i call on president trump to go on national television now. reporter: the current president praised those who attacked the capital. >> go home, we love you. reporter: he said they should go home, not jail, home. and after a four-hour siege, that is what most of them were

allowed to do. al jazeera, washington. anchor: well, as we mentioned, there's been a lot of discussion about invoking the 25th amendment of the constitution to remove president trump. so what exactly does it entail? the clause was added to the u.s. constitution in 1967, clarifying the presidential line of succession, setting out a process for filling the vice presidency, if that office becomes vacant. but it also created a way to remove a sitting president, if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet believe "that the president is unable to discharge their powers and duties of his office, the vice president shall immediately assume the powers and the acting president." the president can object in writing. congress has three weeks to decide the issue. allen baron is a former special impeachment counsel to the u.s. house of representatives.

it is unlikely the 25th amendment will be applied to president trump, he says. >> the 25th amendment is very specific. it erases the question, is the president unable to discharge the duties of his powers? it's been invoked before. for example, when george w. bush had a colonoscopy and would be under sedation for a couple of hours. the 25th amendment was invoked, the vice president took over the position pursuant to the 25th amendment, when he came out of being under, the power of the presidency came back. what we are dealing with here, we may hate everything that mr. trump has been doing, we may object to all of his policies and practices, but does that mean he is "unable to this

-- to discharge the powers and duties of his office?" in my view, i don't think his misbehavior rises to the level of what the 25th amendment is designed to deal with. trump could have ordered the men, he was not incapacitated, if he decided for whatever reason it was not appropriate to call them in, we could vehemently disagree with that, but the question is, is it enough to basically remove him from office? that is a very big step. i do think that is what the 25th amendment is supposed to do. anchor: just joining us on al jazeera, a quick update of what we have been talking about in the last 30 minutes or so, u.s. president trump release a new video on twitter after his account was unblocked, in which he called for healing and reconciliation after yesterday's events on capitol hill, which saw thousands of his supporters

storm the capitol building, at least one person has been killed, several others injured. there are a lot of questions being asked us to how this was able to go ahead and happen. the president in this video message, in a very somber tone, called for healing and reconciliation. he also said those who engage in those acts of violence did not represent our country and will pay. he said the demonstrators infiltrated the capitol building , defiled the seat of american democracy, condemning his supporters who burst into the capitol building yesterday. most importantly, saying also in this soundbite released on twitter a short while ago that he is now focusing on ensuring a smooth transition of power. let's listen. president trump: now congress has certified the results. a new administration will be in operated january 20. my focus now turns to ensuring a

smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of power. this moment calls for healing and reconciliation. 2020 has been a challenging time for our people give it a menacing pandemic has appended the lives of our citizens. isolated millions in their homes. damaged our economy and claimed countless lives. defeating this pandemic and rebuilding the greatest economy on earth will require all of us working together. it will require a renewed emphasis on the civic values of patriotism, faith, charity, community, and family. we must revitalize the sacred bonds of love and loyalty that bind us together. as one national family. to the citizens of our country, serving as your president has been the honor of my lifetime. and to all of my wonderful supporters, i know you are disappointed, but i also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning.

anchor: let's speak to richard goodstein about all of this, he's a democratic strategist. he's live from washington. what do you make of what we have heard from president trump, quite significant, he is now calling for healing and reconciliation, condemning his supporters who stormed the capitol building. what is your reaction to this? >> donald trump thinks that we are all as stupid as he is. look, we heard him 24 hours ago say we love you, i love you, about his people that he had seen on live television ransacking the citadel of the u.s., -- citadel of u.s. democracy, the capitol building. we have not heard these is sweet sentiments expressed in this

twitter piece. never. we know this is not the real donald trump. he things we are stupid enough to think that it might be. it is utterly insincere. he, rudy -- him, rudy giuliani, etc. and him on. >> who convinced him to make this video? >> i'm sure all this talk about the 25th amendment and being impeached got his attention. i agree with alan baron in one respect. i don't think we have time to invoke the 25th amendment. i do however think impeachment is not at all an appropriate. he was perfectly happy to russia's supreme court nominee in record time. there's no reason we couldn't rush through an impeachment. if he urged on people to sac -- if hemorrhaging on people to ransacked the u.s. capitol is not impeachable, i don't know what is. anchor: it almost sounds like

he's accepted now that he's not going to be president anymore come january 20. do you think this could be enough for democrats to not go ahead with these impeachment proceedings and the different challenges to try to remove them from office in the next weeks? >> no, because they were the ones cowering in fear when the people that trump unleashed were putting their lives in jeopardy yesterday. some sweet words not coming from donald trump's parts will not be enough to satisfy democrats, and most independents and republicans are not that stupid, either. we know him at this point. we saw what happened yesterday. this is not sincere. nobody takes them seriously. he lies about everything. -- nobody takes him seriously. he lies about everything. anchor: what is the democrats' aim?

he's going to be out of office january 20th anyway. why go ahead with impeachment? what are they trying to achieve in the long-term? >> to establish a precedent that of a president of the u.s. -- look, yesterday was the most significant attack on the u.s. since 9/11. the difference is on 9/11, osama bin laden was the organizer of the attack. yesterday, it was donald trump. having a president insect people to attack the u.s. capitol is not impeachable, no matter how many days are left, then nothing will be. it is pretty simple, saying, this is unacceptable in a matter how much time is left in your presidency. honestly, having a second impeachment on his record is very fitting. yesterday cemented his standing as the single worst u.s. president ever. anchor: he doesn't sound from that video message like he is going to go away. he said to his supporters, and

the quotes, our journey together is only beginning. clearly he has no intentions of disappearing from the political scene, i believe. what do you see happening past january 20? will the republicans continue to support him? >> i think that's the question of the year. my answer to that is, look at the 130 house republicans who voted as trump has been urging to subvert u.s. democracy last night. to have their view overturn the will of the voters. i agree they were fearful that they could get on the wrong side of donald trump and he would encourage a primary. somebody to primary them when they are up for reelection in two years. i don't think donald trump is going anywhere, but the images of yesterday, to windows and doors of the u.s. capitol we repaired in short order, the image of the u.s. and a capital under attack by the president's

supporters with the flags and the hats, that won't go away for years. that will be hung around donald trump's neck, and having a second impeachment wouldn't be a bad thing either no matter what he decides to do politically. anchor: with now two weeks to go, he says in a statement, it sounds like he is saying "i will go." for donald trump to admit this finally, then he is going to ensure a smooth transition of power, is quite an important moment, wouldn't you agree? even if you don't think he is being sincere, he is saying it. >> have known for weeks -- we have known for weeks he was on the way out. he's looking for schools for his son in florida. he is issuing clemency and pardons. he knew he was on his way out. he still can't bring himself to say that biden won and he lost.

it is shameful, to say now 12 days that we are going to have a peaceful transition, as you know, the 9/11 commission said, in part, the attacks then were because of the lateness of the bush administration coming in after the florida recount process. it delayed everything by 37 days. the fact that we are now two months past election day, and trump still can't say biden won and i lost, that is nonsense. so great, he would not be president as of noon on january 20 the matter what he c hose to do. -- no matter what he chose to do. i don't assign weight to what he said. anchor: i know you are very critical of him, obviously, as we can here. a lot of people will say it's not just on a charm who supported donald trump, many of his critics would say anyone who

supported him is complicit in what happened. and they shouldn't be -- there shouldn't be just consequences for donald trump, but for the gop and those who supported him as a whole. >> i actually think what happened yesterday is a huge stain on the republican party. we can go through individual by individual, but to see trump insight this crowd -- incite this crowd with the trump flags and hats, look, the republican party twice nominated this bile human being for president. i feel pretty strongly about it. -- vile human being for president. i feel pretty strongly about it. if any trump ever in our lifetime decides to run again, those images are going to be run over and over to say, this is what donald trump would have done had he been reelected. it would have been frightful.

and dare we take a chance on any other trump or anybody in his immediate orbit with that same lack of judgment. so yes, i do think this'll be a big stain on a lot of people in the republican party, not just trump. anchor: always good to hear your thoughts on all of this, thank you so much for joining us from washington and giving us your reaction to president donald trump's statement on twitter issued just a while ago, in which he condemned the attacks yesterday on capitol hill, saying those engaged in a violence did not represent our country and will pay. he said the demonstrators who infiltrated the capital defiled the seat of american democracy. donald trump also in this video message called for healing and reconciliation and says his focus now will be on ensuring a smooth transition of power. a statement issued a short while ago by the u.s. president, we will have plenty more reaction and analysis of this throughout

the night here on al jazeera. more news, coming up very shortly after this rick bright. stay with us -- after this break. stay with us on al jazeera. ♪

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