Trump shores up Pence ties
Democrats move to impeach president
WASHINGTON: 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 Mr 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 Mr 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, Mr Trump headed to Texas yesterday in one of his final trips as president, desperate to reach friendlier territory and tout his successes.
In Washington, t hough, 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 was due to vote yesterday on a long-shot bid to get Mr Pence and the cabinet to invoke the US Constitution’s 25th Amendment, which would declare Mr Trump unfit to perform his duties and install Mr Pence as acting president.
The meeting of the president and vice president appeared to quash any prospects of that outcome, however.
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 75 million Americans, and pledged to continue the work on behalf of the country for the remainder of their term”, the official said.
Democrats hoped to launch impeachment proceedings, including a House vote expected today.
The move, which threatens to torpedo any hopes of a political future for Mr Trump, could make for a tense culmination of four years of controversy ahead of Joe Biden’s Jan 20 inauguration.
While Mr Biden’s transition team expressed confidence in the ability to hold a safe inauguration, the FBI warned in an internal memo that armed pro-Trump protesters could seek to disrupt the event.
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, in which 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 accused Republicans of enabling Mr Trump’s “unhinged, unstable and deranged acts of sedition to continue”. “Their complicity endangers America and erodes our Democracy,” she said.
Mr 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.
In the Republican-controlled Senate, which is on recess until Jan 19, top Democrat Chuck Schumer is said to be considering a rarely used manoeuvre to force the chamber back into session under emergency circumstances to more quickly open an impeachment trial.
But some Democrats fear a trial would hamper Mr Biden’s efforts to get his cabinet confirmed and quickly lay out his agenda, starting with the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.