Mike Pence Says He Won’t Invoke 25th Amendment To Remove Donald Trump
Vice President Mike Pence said that he will not invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump from office, saying that he did not think it was “in the best interest of our nation or consistent with our Constitution.”
Pence’s office made public a letter he sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, just as the House prepares to vote on a resolution urging him and the cabinet to invoke the amendment.
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But Pence wrote that “last week, I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcomes of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our nation.”
Pence said that the 25th Amendment was designed to address presidential incapacity or disability, not “a means of punishment or usurpation.”
Pelosi has said that the House will move on to impeachment if Pence declined to invoke the 25th Amendment. An impeachment vote is likely on Wednesday, charging Trump with inciting an insurrection.
Pence did not bring up the possibility of impeachment in his letter, but wrote that he wanted to urge members of Congress to “avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment.”
Pence’s letter is below:
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