‘25TH AMENDMENT – OR WE IMPEACH’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a stark warning to Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday: Toss President Trump by invoking the 25th Amendment or she’ll launch another impeachment bid.
Speaking at a press conference the morning after pro-Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in a siege that left four people dead, Pelosi called on Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the provision and remove Trump from office as unfit.
“Yesterday the president of the United States incited an armed insurrection against America,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, accusing Trump of committing “an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people.”
“By inciting sedition like he did yesterday, he must be removed from office,” she went on.
“If the vice president and Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment,” she threatened, although even if the Democratic-led House quickly held an impeachment vote, the still-GOP-led Senate is unlikely to move so fast and may vote to acquit again anyway.
Still, Pelosi’s remarks were echoed by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, soon to be named majority leader, who revealed that he and the speaker had tried to call Pence on Thursday morning, but were stymied.
“Speaker Pelosi and I tried to call the vice president this morning to tell him to do this,” Schumer told reporters in New York.
“They kept us on hold for 25 minutes and then said the vice president wouldn’t come on the phone.
“So we are making this call public because he should do it and do it right away.”
Section 4 of the 25th Amendment says a president can be involuntarily stripped of power if he’s deemed incapable of fulfilling his duties. It would allow Pence and a majority of Trump’s Cabinet members to vote to install Pence as the commander in chief. Pence reportedly has no interest in such a move.
Meanwhile, members of the GOP on Thursday began to break ranks over the violent siege.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Thursday became the first Republican to call for Trump to be removed via the 25th Amendment.
“Here’s the truth: The president caused this. The president is unfit, and the president is unwell. And the president must now relinquish control of the executive branch voluntarily or involuntarily,” said Kinzinger, a frequent critic of Trump.
“All indications are that the president has become unmoored, not just from his duty, nor even his oath, but from reality itself.”
According to various reports, some Cabinet members have begun discussing the 25th Amendment, but it’s unclear whether they would take such a dramatic step with less than two weeks remaining in Trump’s presidency.
Even former Attorney General William Barr, once a diehard Trump loyalist, on Thursday accused the president of acting improperly.
“Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable. The president’s conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office and supporters,” Barr said in a statement to The Associated Press.