USA TODAY International Edition
Business group says Pence should invoke 25th Amendment
Manufacturers association CEO decries ‘ sedition’
One of President Donald Trump’s major business supporters is calling on Vice President Mike Pence to consider launching a constitutional process that could result in the president’s removal from office.
National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons said Pence should “seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy.”
His comments came after pro-Trump rioters stormed the U. S. Capitol in Washington, clashing with police, breaking windows and making their way into the Senate chambers.
“This is not law and order. This is chaos. It is mob rule. It is dangerous. This is sedition and should be treated as such,” Timmons said in a statement. “The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy. Anyone indulging conspiracy theories to raise campaign dollars is complicit.”
The 25th Amendment outlines procedures for ousting the president from office when the vice president and a majority of the president’s executive officers or another body designated by Congress declare the commander- in- chief unable to serve.
“This is not the vision of America that manufacturers believe in and work so hard to defend,” Timmons said.
The National Association of Manufacturers has been a close ally of the president during his presidency, hosting him for a speech in 2017, hailing his tax reform moves and praising his trade decisions.
Pence himself spoke to NAM’s 2020 Winter Board of Directors meeting on Feb. 14, praising Timmons and his staff for making “an incredible difference in the life of this nation.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
“Across America today, millions of manufacturing workers are helping our nation fight the deadly pandemic that has already taken hundreds of thousands of lives,” Timmons said. “We are trying to rebuild an economy and save and rebuild lives. But none of that will matter if our leaders refuse to fend off this attack on America and our democracy – because our very system of government, which underpins our very way of life, will crumble.”