LA Mayor to Trump: Stand down or step down

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Thursday said U.S. President Donald Trump was "acting like a political pyromaniac" and called for him to step down in the aftermath of  the riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Garcetti said Trump should no longer hold office "if he cannot fulfill his responsibility to this nation" ahead of the transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden on January 20.

The Democrat mayor called the people who stormed the Capitol building "domestic enemies."

His comments come after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to force Trump from office before Biden's inauguration.

Garcetti also said the coronavirus was infecting "more people than ever" in Los Angeles.

He said figures released Thursday in Los Angeles County showed a new daily caseload of nearly 20,000, a 66.5% increase over the previous day.

The more than 8,000 people hospitalized was the largest number since the pandemic began early last year, Garcetti said, and the number of people in hospital intensive care units (ICUs) was triple what it was last month.