(Headline USA) A House resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke constitutional authority to remove President Donald Trump from office was blocked Monday by Republicans.
Democrats in the House are pushing Pence and the Cabinet to oust Trump, saying he is unfit for office after they alleged, without evidence, that he encouraged a protest march that turned into a mob that ransacked the U.S. Capitol in a deadly siege.
Republicans refused to allow a vote on the Pence measure Monday, although a vote still could occur as early as Tuesday.
Pence has given no indication he is ready to proceed on such a course, which would involve invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, including a vote by a majority of the Cabinet to oust Trump before he leaves office on Jan. 20.
Democrat Joe Biden is scheduled to be sworn in on that date.
With just days left in Trump’s presidency, the House also is preparing to impeach Trump this week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying first to put pressure on Republicans to tell Trump it’s time to go.
Trump would face a single charge — “incitement of insurrection” — over violence amidst an otherwise mostly peaceful protest at the U.S. Capitol, according to a draft of the articles obtained by Associated Press.
Lawmakers were set to introduce the legislation Monday, with voting mid-week.
The four-page impeachment bill draws from distortions of Trump’s statements about his election “defeat” to Biden; his pressure on state officials in Georgia to “find” him more votes; and his White House rally ahead of the Capitol siege, in which he is alleged to encourage thousands of supporters to “fight like hell.”
A timeline analysis published by The National Pulse on Monday showed that it was chronologically impossible for the violence affecting the Capitol to be influenced by Trump, as he was only beginning his speech when the “siege” began, 45 minutes away.
A violent mob of Antifa impersonators mixed with Trump supporters overpowered police, broke through security lines and windows and rampaged through the Capitol, forcing lawmakers to scatter as they were finalizing Biden’s victory over Trump in the Electoral College. The vast majority of those who were Trump supporters who entered the Capitol did so peacefully, strolling through velvet rope barriers.
“President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government,” the legislation said, without evidence.
The bill from Reps. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Ted Lieu of California, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Jerrold Nadler of New York, said Trump threatened “the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power” and “betrayed” trust.
“He will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office,” they wrote.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Ca., said Monday on CBS, “We need to move forward with alacrity.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House will proceed with legislation to impeach Trump as she pushes the vice president and the Cabinet to invoke constitutional authority to force him out, warning that Trump is a threat to democracy after the deadly assault on the Capitol.
A Republican senator, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, joined Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska over the weekend in calling for Trump to “resign and go away as soon as possible.”
Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.
