The 25th Amendment allows for the president to be removed from office by the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet.
WASHINGTON: Top Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday joined dozens of his party colleagues in asking Vice President Mike Pence to invoke 25th Amendment to the American Constitution to remove President Donald Trump from office following the violent assault on the US Capitol by the president’s supporters.
The 25th Amendment allows for the president to be removed from office by the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet.
“What happened at the US Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president.
This president should not hold office one day longer,” Senate Democratic leader Schumer said.
“The quickest and most effective way – it can be done today – to remove this president from office would be for the vice president to immediately invoke the 25th amendment,” he demanded.
“If the vice president and the cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president,” Schumer said in a statement amidst increasing chorus to remove Trump from office.
His successor Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers have demanded that Pence and his Cabinet colleagues invoke this special provision of the US constitution wherein they can remove the sitting president by saying that he is not fit to serve the office of presidency.
Adam Kinzinger on Thursday became the first Republican lawmaker to call for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
“The president caused this. The president is unfit and the president is unwell. And the president now must relinquish control of the executive branch voluntarily or involuntarily,” Kinzinger said in a video posted on twitter.
Congressman Sean Casten in a statement said that “attempted coup incited by our 45th president, Donald Trump, will go down as one of the darkest moments” in American history.
“Donald Trump presents a grave threat to the continuity of our government, and our democracy.
He must be removed from office immediately, and I am calling on the House to impeach, and for Vice President Pence, in parallel to initiate removal via the 25th Amendment,” Casten said.
The “insurrectionists” who stormed the Capitol today should be held fully accountable for their actions under the law, said Senator Patty Murray.
“The most immediate way to ensure the President is prevented from causing further harm in coming days is to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office.
As history watches, I urge Vice President Pence and the President’s Cabinet to put country before party and act,” he said.
There has been no reaction from Pence on this.
Pence while presiding over the Joint Sessions of the Congress to count and certify electoral college votes condemned the violence, saying violence never wins, freedom does.
“We condemn the violence that took place here in the strongest possible terms. We grieve the loss of life in these hallowed halls, as well as the injuries suffered by those who defended our Capitol today,” he said.
Describing Wednesday’s events as “one of the darkest days in American history,” Congresswoman Suzan DelBene alleged that Trump encouraged a violent mob to attack members of Congress to block the certification of Biden and Kamala Harris.
“He failed to repudiate the violence he started and refused to activate security forces to protect the US Capitol.
Consequently, he violated his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,” she said.
“I couldn’t have imagined the violence and lawlessness I saw around the United States Capitol. For the good of the country, the 25th Amendment should be invoked to remove President Trump from office immediately,” she said.
Congresswoman Doris Matsui called on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and convene the Cabinet to remove the president from office.
“President Trump continues to put himself above the American people, and his reckless actions to undermine our democracy must be met with equal consequence,” she said.
