Trump meets Pence on move to impeach him
Washington, US - US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence met on Monday for the first time since rioters stormed the US Capitol last week, signalling a united front as Democratic efforts to impeach Trump gain momentum.
The meeting in the Oval Office - described as ‘ a good conversation’ by a senior official - came ahead of a critical 48-hour period when Pence will come under pressure to break from the President and initiate his removal.
Just eight days before his term ends, and nearly a week after a failed insurrection scarred the seat of America’s democracy, Trump heads to Texas on Tuesday in one of his final trips as President, desperate to reach friendlier territory so he can tout his administration’ successes.
In Washington, though, he is the target of efforts to remove him from power, including a historic second impeachment, this time for ‘incitement of insurrection’ over his supporters’ deadly breach of the Capitol building.
First, the House of Representatives will vote on Tuesday on a longshot bid to get Pence and the cabinet to invoke the US Constitution’s 25th Amendment, which would declare Trump unfit to perform his duties and install Pence as acting president.
Pence’s meeting with Trump appeared to quash any prospects of that outcome.
The two men ‘ reiterated that those who broke the law and stormed the Capitol last week do not represent the America First movement backed by 75mn Americans, and pledged to continue the work on behalf of the country for the remainder of their term’, the official said.
Democrats will then follow up with impeachment proceedings, including a House vote expected on Wednesday.
The move - which threatens to torpedo any hopes of a political future for Trump - could make for a tense culmination of four years of controversy ahead of Joe Biden's January 20 inauguration.
While Biden’s transition team expressed confidence in the ability to hold a safe inauguration, the FBI warned in an internal memo that armed proTrump protesters could seek to disrupt the inauguration.
The bureau, according to ABC News, also received information on a group seeking to ‘storm’ government offices in all 50 states on Inauguration Day.
Authorities are seeking to arrest more people who raided the Capitol after a rally by the President when he repeated false claims that Democrats stole the election through fraud. The siege left five people dead.
Military personnel have flooded into Washington, where as many as 15,000 National Guard troops could be deployed.
In the US Capitol on Monday, where security has tightened substantially including a metal fence around the building, Republicans blocked immediate passage of the 25th Amendment resolution, forcing a debate and House vote.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi hit out at Republicans, accusing them of enabling Trump’s ‘unhinged, unstable and deranged acts of sedition to continue’.
‘Their complicity endangers America, erodes our Democracy, and it must end,’ she said.
Trump has been largely silent in recent days, making few statements and holding no news conferences.
He has been banned from Twitter, his favoured public platform, for language that could incite violence.
Support appeared to be crumbling within his inner circle. Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security which safeguards the inauguration, resigned on Monday, the third Cabinet member to quit since the riot.
Trump is the target of efforts to remove him from power, including a historic 2nd impeachment, this time for ‘incitement of insurrection’ over the deadly raid of the Capitol building