Republicans block call for Pence to remove Trump
AHOUSE of Representatives resolution calling on VicePresident Mike Pence to invoke constitutional authority to remove President Donald Trump from office was blocked by Republicans yesterday.
Democrats in the House are pushing Mr Pence and the Cabinet to oust Mr Trump, saying he is unfit for office after encouraging a protest march that turned into a mob that ransacked the United States Capitol in a deadly siege last Wednesday.
Mr Pence has given no indication he is ready to proceed on such a course, which would involve invoking the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution, including a vote by a majority of the Cabinet to oust Mr Trump before he leaves office on January 20.
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Biden will be sworn in on that date and, with just days left in Mr Trump’s presidency, the House also is preparing to impeach Mr Trump this week.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying first to put pressure on Republicans to tell Mr Trump it is time to go.
Mr Trump would face a single charge – “incitement of insurrection” – over the riot at the US Capitol, according to a draft of the articles. Politicians were set to introduce the legislation last night, with voting in midweek.
The four-page impeachment bill draws from Mr Trump’s own false statements about his election defeat to Biden; his pressure on state officials in Georgia to “find” him more votes; and his White House rally ahead of the Capitol siege, in which he encouraged thousands of supporters to “fight like hell” before they stormed the building last week.
A violent mob of Mr Trump supporters overpowered police, broke through security lines and windows and rampaged through the Capitol, forcing politicians to scatter as they were finalising Mr Biden’s victory over Mr Trump in the Electoral College. “President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government,” the legislation said.
The bill, from Representatives David Cicilline, Ted Lieu, Jamie Raskin and Jerrold Nadler, said Mr Trump threatened “the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power” and “betrayed” trust.
“He will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office,” they wrote.
Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat, told CBS: “We need to move forward with alacrity.”
Ms Pelosi says the House will proceed with legislation to impeach Mr Trump as she pushes the vice-president and the Cabinet to invoke constitutional authority to force him out, warning that Trump is a threat to democracy.
The US National Parks Service is shutting down public access to the Washington Monument until January 24, citing threats surrounding President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. Parks officials say that groups involved in last week’s riot at the US Capitol are continuing to “threaten to disrupt” Mr Biden’s inauguration on January 20.