Democrats announce plans to remove Trump from office
Washington, Jan 10 (efe-epa).- United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that steps will be taken to pass a resolution urging Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office.
“This resolution calls on the Vice President to convene and mobilize the Cabinet to activate the 25th Amendment to declare the President incapable of executing the duties of his office,” Pelosi said in a letter to lawmakers following the assault on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters that resulted in five deaths, including that of a police officer.
If unanimous consent is not achieved, Democrats will vote on the bill on Tuesday and on impeachment later in the week.
“In protecting our Constitution and our Democracy, we will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat to both. As the days go by, the horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action,” Pelosi added.
On Monday morning, Pelosi will petition the House for unanimous consent to ask Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution that allows the president to be disqualified for inability to govern. Pence would then be acting president.
To do this, Pence would have to step up and have the backing of half the Cabinet, something that seems unlikely.
“If we do not receive Unanimous Consent, this legislation is planned to be brought up on the Floor the following day. We are calling on the Vice President to respond within 24 hours. Next, we will proceed with bringing impeachment legislation to the Floor,” Pelosi said.
Holding a majority in the House of Representatives, the Democrats plan to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump, charging him with “incitement to insurrection.” It would be the second time he has faced impeachment.
Subsequently, he would be subjected to trial in the Senate, although it is currently in recess and is not set to resume activity until Jan. 19, a day before the inauguration of Democrat Joe Biden as president.
Given the limited time frame, some Democratic heavyweights in the House on Sunday raised the possibility of not delivering the impeachment articles to the Senate until after the first 100 days of Biden’s term have passed so as not to affect the start of his mandate.
This scenario was endorsed by US House Majority Whip James Clyburn, who told CNN Sunday that Biden should be given “the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we’ll send the articles sometime after that.”
Meanwhile, Trump, whose Twitter and Facebook accounts were suspended Friday due to the “risk of further incitement of violence,” remains silent.
The White House has reported that his first official act after the assault on the Capitol will take place on Tuesday when the president travels to Texas to visit the construction of the border wall with Mexico, the symbol of his hardline and contentious migration policies. EFE-EPA
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