MA Gov. Baker Calls For Vice President Pence To Assume Presidency

BOSTON – Gov. Charlie Baker called on Vice President Mike Pence to lead the transition to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration in two weeks in a scathing rebuke of President Donald Trump's actions and rhetoric surrounding Wednesday's attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"I think that the most important thing we need to do at this point in time is to recognize that there is a transition to a new administration that's going to take place 14 days from now and that Vice President Pence should be empowered to be able do that," Baker said during his Thursday news conference. "Whatever the mechanism there is to do that I leave up to the people in Washington. But I think it's important at this point that there be an orderly transition — and that transition be led by the vice president."

Baker added that officials should act "in the most expeditious way possible for the president to step down and the vice president to assume the powers of the office for the next 14 days."

Baker said he was in contact with public safety officials across the state throughout Wednesday’s violence in Washington D.C. and that there were no known threats in the Commonwealth.

Baker, a frequent Republican critic of President Trump, excoriated the president for hypocrisy in recent months leading up to his actions in recent days in joining a chorus of Massachusetts officials saying he should be removed from office after he "stoked the flames of outrage for weeks" and then "refused to adequately prepare the U.S. Capitol the possibility of violence, and left it nearly defenseless."

"(Trump's) remarks during the travesty during and after the attack on the Capitol were disgraceful," Baker said. "During the violence that sometimes accompanied peaceful protests concerning police brutality this summer, the president was the first to call state and local officials out for not doing enough to protect their residents and demanded that every agitator be arrested and prosecuted.

"And then yesterday he thanked the mob for their support. The whole thing makes me sick."

(Rep. Seth Moulton: Capitol Attack Was A Trump-Inspired Coup)

While Baker defended his choice not to vote for either Biden or Trump in November's election, he said Biden's remarks amid Wednesday's riots "were exactly the right tone we need at this point in time."

Baker added that he was encouraged with the newfound civility among both Democrats and Republicans during the reconvened night joint session of Congress that ratified Biden's Electoral College victory.

"But all those folks have work to do," Baker said. "We still have a pandemic. We still have an underperforming economy. We still have a lot of issues that are of deep concern to the people of this country that those folks need to work together on to move this country forward.

"I really hope that they meant what they said (Wednesday) night, and that tone and tenor, and the importance of accomplishing things together is a big part of how they actually perform come Jan. 21."

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This article originally appeared on the Swampscott Patch