U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday that she has spoken with military commanders to prevent President Donald Trump from taking military action, including the use of nuclear weapons, in the United States. last days of his term.
“This morning I spoke with the Chief of Joint Staff, Mark Milley, and we talked about the precautions available to prevent an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or having access to launch codes and the order for a nuclear attack. “, explain Pelosi, a Democrat for California, in a memorandum.
“The situation of this volatile president could not be more dangerous,” added the Speaker of the lower house, who said “every effort must be made to protect Americans from this senseless assault against the our country and our democracy “.
On Wednesday, prompted by President Trump with his allegations of election fraud, thousands marched toward the Capitol, clashed with police and occupied the building in a riot to prevent Congress from completing ratification of the votes in the Electoral College that gave victory to Democrat Joe Biden.
The system established in the United States for deciding on a nuclear weapon attack is more complicated than a “nuclear button” and requires the president to convince military commanders that he is, in fact, the president and has ordered action.
The “nuclear codes” mentioned in movies and novels are not the ones that allow missile launches, but the ones that allow the president to have authority to order the use of nuclear weapons.
Former Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who served as chair of the upper house’s foreign affairs committee from 2007 to 2019, said today in an interview with MSNBC that the system established for the use of weapons nuclear requires the participation of civilian officials and military officers with sufficient protocols to prevent the uncontrolled action of an erratic president.
Pelosi did not say what was the outcome of his conversation with the military leader, at a time when pressure is growing in Congress over the start of a second political trial against Trump, if the cabinet does not declare him incompetent or the president resigns with a few days left in his presidency.