flanked by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (L) and Advisor Jared
Kushner, speaks in the Oval Office to announce that Bahrain will
establish diplomatic relations with Israel, at the White House in
Washington, DC on September 11, 2020. Anna Moneymaker-Pool/Getty
Images/AFP
US Vice President Mike Pence told House leaders Tuesday
he does not support invoking the 25th Amendment process to remove
Donald Trump, all but guaranteeing an impeachment vote against the
besieged president.
“With just eight days left in the President’s term, you and the
Democratic Caucus are demanding that the Cabinet and I invoke the
25th Amendment,” Pence wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
referring to the process that would declare Trump unable to fulfill
his duties and install Pence as acting president for the remainder
of the term.
“I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best
interest of our nation or consistent with our Constitution,” he
said.
Vice President Mike Pence as he takes notes during the vice
presidential debate against US Democratic vice presidential nominee
and Senator from California Kamala Harris in Kingsbury Hall at the
University of Utah on October 7, 2020, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
(ERIC BARADAT / AFP)
Democrats mobilized rapidly to begin the process to have Trump
removed after he encouraged his supporters last Wednesday to
“march” to the US Capitol and “fight.”
In a violent insurrection, the rioters stormed past outnumbered
police, rampaged through and ransacked the building, and
interrupted Congress as it was certifying Joe Biden’s election
victory.
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Pence, who was presiding over the vote, as well as Pelosi and
other lawmakers, were forced to take shelter. Five people died
during the unrest including a US Capitol Police officer.
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The vice president’s letter came just hours before the House of
Representatives was to vote on a resolution that calls on Pence to
initiate the 25th Amendment process and “declare what is obvious to
a horrified nation: that the President is unable to successfully
discharge the duties and powers of his office.”
Pelosi has said Pence’s failure to trigger that process would
lead to a Trump impeachment vote on Wednesday. She has described
Trump as being “unhinged.”
But Pence told Pelosi that her call for invoking the 25th
Amendment was misplaced, saying it was designed to “address
presidential incapacity or disability,” not as a “means of
punishment or usurpation.”
He also pointed out that despite intense pressure from within
his party to invalidate the electoral votes from swing states won
by Biden, he fulfilled his consitutional duty to certify the
results.
“I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives
to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our
nation,” he wrote.
Earlier in the day Trump said the 25th Amendment was of “zero
risk” to him.
AFP
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