Pritzker calls for Trump's removal from office

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is calling for President Donald Trump to be impeached over Wednesday's forcible occupation of the U.S. Capitol by angry Trump supporters.

"Two weeks," Pritzker said, "is too long for Donald Trump to remain in office, where he can continue to incite more untold violence."

The large segment of the crowd stormed the Capitol in Washington Wednesday after Trump spoke at a rally and encouraged his followers to head to the building where both Houses of Congress were receiving electors' affidavits attesting to Joe Biden's election as president.

"As the heart of our democracy was under siege and blood was literally being spilled in our most sacred halls," Pritzker said in a prepared statement released late Wednesday afternoon, "Donald Trump was praising the attackers. There are real questions about what efforts the president made to protect our Congress or what obstructions he committed that has prevented the ending of the siege.

"There is no doubt in my mind that his efforts to encourage a coup represent high treason to this democracy, our Constitution and all Americans. He poses a danger to our nation. He must be impeached and removed from office immediately. And every person in a position of public trust, elected or otherwise, who enabled the systematic dismantling of our democratic norms and failed to speak up or take action bears some responsibility for the culmination of four years of spreading bile.

"This violence is the natural conclusion of Donald Trump's efforts to unleash the forces of hate and divide our nation. It must end."