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© Reuters
Nancy Pelosi, who was recently elected to another term as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, called for the immediate impeachment of President Donald Trump. Chuck Schumer, who will soon lead the majority of Democrats in the Senate, said the president should not stay in office another day.
He approached Vice President Mike Pence and asked him to turn to the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides, among other things, what to do if the president is unable to serve.
In this case, it is intended that he be declared mentally unstable and therefore incapable and dangerous for the country. “Trump is deadly to Americans and American democracy,” Pelosi said the day after the Capitol raid killed four people.
If the vice president does not take this step, Congress is ready to initiate impeachment proceedings, he added.
Pelosi also addressed ministers in the Trump administration as soon as she was the first to resign. “Are you behind these actions? Are you ready to say that in the next 13 days this dangerous man could further damage our democracy? (…) Even if it is only 13 days, each of them can turn out to be” Yesterday, the president of the United States incited an armed revolt against the American government. The assault on the Capitol is a stain forever in the history of our country, “added Pelosi.
Pence cannot remove Trump on his own, citing the Constitution, and needs the joint decision of several key cabinet ministers.
How the 25th Amendment is activated
If the president is alive but has been declared unable to govern, power passes to the vice president. Pence will not be president, but will only act until the reinstatement of the incumbent. This part of Amendment 25 has never been used. It is triggered by a decision of the Vice President and a majority (at least 8) of 15 specific ministers. If in 4 days this group does not declare the president incompetent again, the powers are returned in full to the president.
But if there is a second such declaration, the Senate and House of Representatives must, within 21 days, determine by the votes of at least two-thirds of their members that the president cannot assume office and his alternate will serve until the end of his term. If Pence is also incapable, the Constitution transfers power to the Speaker of the House of Commons. In this case, it’s Nancy Pelosi from the Democratic Party.
By January 20, President-elect Joe Biden will take office in less than two weeks.
Pelosi says her party members are pushing for Congress to try again to remove Trump, after making such a decision in December 2019, but it was suspended in the Senate. “My phone literally rings with ‘impeachment, impeachment, impeachment,'” he said.
