In statements released Tuesday, New Mexico’s all-Democratic congressional delegation condemned President Donald Trump’s threats against Iran, which included a post on social media that said, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
“President Trump’s latest social media posts offer no reassurance to the American people, our service members, or their families,” U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján said in a statement. “His reckless, deranged, and immoral threats to destroy a ‘whole civilization’ are dangerous and have further escalated tensions, putting Americans and our allies at even greater risk.
Americans, Luján’s statement continued, “did not vote for this war. The president dragged our nation into it without a plan, without congressional authorization, and without public support. Now, families here at home are facing rising costs and the consequences of his chaos.”
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich’s statement characterized Trump’s statement as both “unhinged” and one that threatened a war crime.
“This is not some real estate deal that’s dragging on,” Heinrich said. “We are talking about the very existence of a nation and the millions of innocent civilians within it, folks whose oppression President Trump claimed to care about only weeks ago. Let me be clear: No one gets to indiscriminately harm civilians. It’s against international and U.S. law, and it is wrong.”
U.S. Reps. Melanie Stansbury and Teresa Leger Fernández, who represent the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts, respectively, both called for Trump to be removed as president.
In a video on social media, Stansbury said Trump’s statements were not just “unbefitting a president,” but represented “threats against humanity and warm crimes under international law.
Leger Fernández, in a statement, also said Trump “must be removed” and called upon Republicans to do so.
“The Constitution gives Republicans in the Cabinet the power to remove him under the 25th Amendment,” she said. “Republicans in Congress hold the power to impeach him. They have the power to stop this madness. What will my Republican colleagues do? Do you support his war crime threats? And if not, will you use your power to stop this?”
Leger Fernández also exhorted “Republicans to bring Congress back into session to pass a War Powers Resolution to stop his illegal war, and to impeach him now. We must act before it’s too late.”
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, who represents New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, did not explicitly call for Trump’s removal, but did call upon his Republican colleagues “to find the courage to take the violent threats made this morning seriously and work across the aisle to prevent our great nation from having blood on its hands. The American people want stability and security now.”