Pence says he won’t invoke 25th Amendment to remove Trump. Read his letter to Pelosi
Vice President Mike Pence won’t invoke the 25th Amendment, he said in a letter shared by multiple media outlets.
Pence said in the letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he would not invoke the 25th Amendment in the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency.
“Every American was shocked and saddened by the attack on our Nation’s Capitol last week, and I am grateful for the leadership that you and other congressional leaders provided in reconvening Congress to complete the people’s business on the very same day,” Pence wrote in the letter.
Some political leaders and Americans have called for Pence and Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove the president from office. The push came after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol last week as Congress convened to certify the Electoral College results for President-elect Joe Biden.
Pence said he would not remove Trump from office with only eight days left in his term.
“I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution,” Pence wrote.
The House of Representatives was expected to vote on a resolution Tuesday night that would call for Trump to be removed from office by the 25th Amendment, CNN reported. The resolution called on Pence to use his power to remove Trump from office.
House Democrats also introduced one article of impeachment against Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” according to McClatchy News. A growing number of Republicans in the House have shown support for impeachment.
House Democrats plan to vote on impeachment Wednesday, according to CNN.
Section 4 of the 25th Amendment says that if the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet or Congress deem the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” they would write a letter to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, according to McClatchy News.
The vice president would then immediately become president. The section has never been used since the amendment was ratified in 1967.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 7:24 PM with the headline "Pence says he won’t invoke 25th Amendment to remove Trump. Read his letter to Pelosi."