Rep. Raul Grijalva speaks out following last week’s chaotic moments on Capitol Hill

News 11's Adonis Albright sits down with Congressman Grijalva about what lies ahead for Democrats

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Congressman Raul Grijalva (D - Ariz.) and his Democrat colleagues are moving full speed ahead with efforts to impeach President Donald J. Trump following last week's chaotic moments on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Grijalva was on the House floor the moment the nation's historic Capitol Building was breached on Wednesday, January 6 . He said it was a terrifying experience, and one that should have never happened.

"It was an attack on the democracy. No matter how passionate you might be and how committed you might be to President Trump or a particular issue that causes you to do that... the issue of violence, the issue of stopping a constitutional certification of an election that Biden won by 8 million votes nationwide, and won in Arizona, was ridiculous", said Grijalva.

The Congressman is also taking issue with his Republican colleagues, Reps. Andy Biggs (R - Ariz.) and Paul Gosar (R - Ariz.)

"They haven't said that Biden is legitimately President of the United States. They continue to perpetuate the lie. They were part of the planning process for the sixth, one of the instigators of this attack... has said so publicly that he [Trump] worked with Gosar and Biggs to put this together. I think for culpability, there should be consequences."

Now that the White House as well as both chambers of Congress are controlled by Democrats, Rep. Grijalva is also looking ahead at the priorities that need to be addressed.

“But right now the urgency is this pandemic and what it’s doing to the people of Arizona and to the people of this country. We got to get the vaccine out, we gotta’ get it out to everybody and begin to work toward some level of normalcy. We have to start to open up our economy, and job creation and helping small businesses - that’s to be a priority. We need to get a new stimulus and relief package done and we need to start addressing our schools and our children who badly need those schools.” 

Tuesday night, Representative Grijalva and his Democratic colleagues are calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment in an effort to remove President Trump from office. If that effort is thrown to the wayside, Democrats plan to vote on an article of impeachment on Wednesday which accuses President Trump of sedition.