Mike Pence opposes using 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office, reports say

Vice president’s refusal could prompt Democrats in Congress to begin impeachment as articles of impeachment are drafted

In the aftermath of Capitol Hill riot and Donald Trump’s failure to stop the violence, Mike Pence will not support calls for the vice president and members of the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution to remove the president from office, according to Business Insider.

The publication cites two aides to the vice president who have stressed that there is “no way” that he would participate, as a growing body of lawmakers and officials from across the US demand the president’s removal.

His aides are reportedly worried that taking the unprecedented step “could spiral the country even further into chaos and partisan divide” and compromise the vice president’s future political ambitions.

The report follows a growing demand to remove the president from office, through either his impeachment in Congress or invocation of the 25th amendment.

Mr Pence’s refusal to do so could prompt Congress to begin impeachment proceedings.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the leading Democrats in Congress, have explicitly demanded Mr Pence to act, or barring that, could plan to instruct Congress to begin the president’s second impeachment. No president has ever been impeached twice.

“If the vice president and Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment," Speaker Pelosi said on Thursday. “That is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus.”

Senator Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said that should Mr Pence refuse to act, “Congress should reconvene to impeach the president”.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee began circulating articles of impeachment on Thursday, marking the first serious steps towards trying to remove the president within two weeks of president-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Congressmen David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Jamie Raskin of Maryland,and Ted Lieu of California have drafted documents to impeach Mr Trump for “abuse of power”, the same nominal charge levied against him when the House impeached him for the first time in December 2019.

The resolution charges the president with having “engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by wilfully inciting violence against the government of the United States”, after a mob of the president’s supporters – incited by the president and compelled by election fraud conspiracies and calls for revolutionary violence – breached the Capitol and threatened lawmakers and staff as Congress convened to formally certify the president-elect’s victory.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota is the lead sponsor of the resolution. Among others who have joined the measure: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Al Green, Ayanna Pressley, Jamal Bowman, Mondaire Jones, Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib, Hank Johnson and Vincente Gonzalez.

New York Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said: “Our republic is in great danger, and it is imperilled further without swift action to protect it.”

“The President incited an attack on Congress,” she wrote in a statement on Twitter. “He is deeply unstable. The Cabinet must invoke the 25th amendment. Congress must also pursue impeachment and removal of the President.”

At least one Republican congressman, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, has also called on the vice president to act.