Ahead of Wednesday’s scheduled House of Representatives vote to impeach outgoing President Trump, New York members of Congress are being called upon to resign after support objections to the 2020 election results and allegedly provoking the attack on U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
At least 70 New York Indivisible and other progressive groups have signed on to a petition for congress members Nicole Malliotakis of Brooklyn/Staten Island, Lee Zeldin of Long Island, Elise Stefanik of upstate Saratoga County and Chris Jacobs of suburban Buffalo/Rochester for supposedly being “complicit” pro-Trump groups attempting a coup last week.
While Zeldin, Stefanik and Jacobs declined requests for them to vacate their seats, Malliotakis’ press team remained silent when contacted by amNewYork Metro on Tuesday.
“This attempted coup put legislators, congressional and building staff, and journalists in grave danger. Five people died, and many more were injured. The violent mob was motivated by certifiable lies and conspiracy theories that were sown and amplified by the outgoing president of the United States, Donald Trump, along with numerous elected members of the Republican Party,” the letter from Indivisible groups said. “These leaders lied repeatedly about the nature of our election system and made unfounded claims about election fraud in an effort to undermine and destroy our democracy. They have proven themselves unfit for office, and must resign immediately.”
While Malliotakis has said that she will oppose removing President Donald Trump in impeachment proceeding set to begin on Wednesday, hundreds of opponents to her actions still just days into her first term in congress protested on Monday what they see as her role in the riot last week. The Staten Island freshman was among 121 in the House of Representatives nationwide objecting to the electoral vote on baseless claims of fraud.
Prior to the vote to certify the election results, Malliotakis had said she did not see a scenario where she did not object.
“Nicole Malliotakis took an oath. Within 72 hours, she sold us out,” Bay Ridge Councilman Justin Brannan said during the demonstration. “This isn’t about politics; it’s about your moral fiber as a person.”
While Malliotakis beat former Congressman Max Rose, a Democrat, in the November elections, New York’s Indivisible groups have flexed considerable clout in the past.
In 2018, a wave of anger against the defection of members of the state senate to the Independent Democratic Conference saw the ouster of seven out of the nine members of what naysayers called “turncoats” to the Republican majority that existed in the senate chamber in Albany at the time.
New York Indivisible was an outspoken force against Tony Avella, who at the time was serving a fourth term in the district now held by Senator John Liu, and which had traditionally been an area of Queens dominated by republican voters.
Malliotakis’s district straddles southern Brooklyn and Staten Island where the deepest support for Trump remains in the five boroughs
