Pence Refuses to Invoke 25th Amendment to Remove Trump From Office

This comes just days after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.

The 25th Amendment allows the vice president and the majority of the Cabinet to remove a sitting president if they deem him unfit for office.

Photo: The Quint

Late Tuesday evening, Vice President Mike Pence declined to support efforts to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump in a letter he wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“With just eight days left in the President’s term, you and Democratic Caucus are demanding that the Cabinet and I invoke the 25th Amendment. I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution,” Pence wrote.

The 25th Amendment allows the vice president and the majority of the Cabinet to remove a sitting president if they deem him unfit for office.

Pence urged Pelosi and all members of Congress to "lower the temperature and unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden."

Democrats on Monday, 11 January, introduced an article of impeachment against outgoing US President Donald Trump in the House of Representatives for "incitement of insurrection", just days after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.

With more than 210 co-signers, lawmakers said they were confident they had the votes to proceed. A dozen Republicans are said to be considering joining Democrats in the effort to impeach.

The House plans to vote on an impeachment resolution on Wednesday, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said in a call with Democratic colleagues.

Trump May Be First Prez to Be Impeached Twice

The fast-track impeachment vote will begin Wednesday morning. If there is a majority of the House votes to impeach Trump, he will be the first president to be impeached twice.

House Democrats believe they have the votes to pass the resolution, reports CBS News.

The last week unfolded as members of both Houses of the US Congress were meeting to certify the electoral college victory of Joe Biden in the US presidential election.

Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine also said on Monday that he's looking into whether he can prosecute President Donald Trump over his role in encouraging the violent storming of the US Capitol last week.

"Clearly the crowd was hyped up, juiced up, and focused on the Capitol. Rather than calming them down or at least emphasise (with) the peaceful nature of what protests need to be, they really did encourage these folks and riled them up," Racine told MSNBC.

"The (Office of Legal Counsel) opinion says the president can't be prosecuted while the president is in office. As it turns out, the president has about nine more days of office and, of course, the investigation is going to go on much beyond those nine days," he added.

What Happened

Pro-Trump protesters stormed of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.

Members of both Houses of the US Congress were meeting to conduct the vote certifying the electoral college victory of Joe Biden in the US presidential election. Both Houses had to be evacuated, before the Senate reconvened later.

Several hours after the crisis began, the Capitol Police finally managed to clear the mob from the building after 5:30 pm (EST), with the Capitol’s Sergeant-at-Arms confirming the building was secure, according to CNN.