President Donald Trump’s supporters have spent much of his first term attempting to forcibly remove him from office.
In the wake of violent unrest on Capitol Hill this week, such calls have dramatically increased — with some prominent officials calling on Vice President Mike Pence to intervene.
“Immediately assume the powers”
Among the suggested remedies being discussed by lawmakers across the political spectrum is the possible invocation of the 25th Amendment, a constitutional provision allowing a president to be removed upon being declared mentally unfit to serve.
The amendment gives the vice president “and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide” to make such a determination.
In that case, the vice president “shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President,” the amendment concludes.
One of the legislators calling on Pence to launch the process is U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), who shared a tweet directed at the vice president that alleged Trump has become “detached from reality.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) announced in a tweet on Wednesday that she would be leading a separate charge to remove Trump from the White House with less than two weeks left in his term.
“We need to fulfill our oath”
“I am drawing up Articles of Impeachment,” Omar declared. “Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate.”
She went on to assert that lawmakers “can’t allow him to remain in office,” calling her effort “a matter of preserving our Republic” and insisting that “we need to fulfill our oath.”
Another progressive congresswoman, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), released an impeachment demand, writing: “Donald J. Trump should immediately be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate as soon as Congress reconvenes. This is dangerous and unacceptable.”
The calls for removal did not come only from the left, however, as evidenced in a Twitter thread posted by GOP Vermont Gov. Phil Scott.
“Make no mistake, the President of the United States is responsible for this event,” he said of the Capitol Hill riot. “President Trump has orchestrated a campaign to cause an insurrection that overturns the result of a free, fair and legal election. The fact is the results of this election have been validated by Republican governors, conservative judges and non-partisan election officials across the country.”
The post Lawmakers increasingly call on Pence to initiate process of removing Trump from office first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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