The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to urge Vice President Mike Pence to start the U.S. Constitution’s 25th Amendment process of removing President Donald Trump from office, although the vice president already has said he will not do so, Reuters writes.
To invoke the 25th Amendment, Pence and a majority of Trump’s Cabinet would need to declare that Trump is unable to perform his duties. Pence rejected that course of action earlier Tuesday. The House is expected to vote Wednesday on impeaching Trump on charges that he incited an insurrection against the U.S. government.
Pence said Tuesday he wouldn’t invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office, writing in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that it’s time for the nation to heal after last week’s attack on the Capitol.
Pence’s letter comes in response to a resolution House Democrats will put to a vote Tuesday night urging him to use his constitutional authority to end Trump’s term early. Pence said he’s asking members of Congress to “avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment.”
The vice president said the U.S. Constitution’s 25th Amendment was designed to address presidential “incapacity or disability” and accused the House of Representatives of playing “political games”, Bloomberg writes.
Democrats had hoped that Pence – who drew Trump’s ire for rebuffing his calls to reject the results of the presidential election, saying such a move was unconstitutional – would call on the cabinet to remove Trump from power. The President has been widely rebuked for his role stirring the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, which left five people dead and dozens more injured.
Trump and Pence met Monday night at the White House — their first conversation since the intrusion by the President’s supporters forced the vice president to hastily evacuate from the Senate floor.
A senior administration official said after the meeting that they had agreed to continue working on behalf of the country for the remainder of their term, indicating that Pence didn’t intend to invoke the 25th Amendment. Earlier Tuesday Trump said he was at “zero risk” of removal under the constitutional provision.
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