Pennsylvania Democrats push for Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump
If that long-shot effort doesn’t work, many lawmakers said they would support impeaching Trump a second time, less than two weeks before he leaves office.
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Members of Congress from the Philadelphia region joined a growing Democratic chorus Thursday urging President Donald Trump’s cabinet and Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from power.
If that long-shot effort doesn’t gain traction, many of them said they would support impeaching Trump a second time before he leaves office on Jan. 20. That step, too, would be extremely difficult to achieve, politically and logistically, with such little time to act.
But Democrats said Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol, which they said was driven by Trump’s rhetoric, demanded action.
“President Trump is a threat to our domestic and national security. It is self-evident that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) said in a statement. He urged Pence to invoke the amendment, which allows a majority of the cabinet and the vice president to strip a president’s power when he is deemed unable or unfit to serve. Casey called it “the quickest way to protect our domestic and national security.”
His call, and those of many other Democrats in the region, came after Congress’ top two Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, urged using the amendment to strip Trump’s power in the final days of his presidency. Under the amendment, which has never been invoked, Pence would assume the powers of the presidency.
Every Pennsylvania Democrat representing Philadelphia and its collar counties — including Reps. Dwight Evans, Brendan Boyle, Madeleine Dean, Chrissy Houlahan, and Mary Gay Scanlon — said they supported reining in Trump’s power via the 25th Amendment.
The amendment can be invoked if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet vote that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the office. Yet that requirement, and history, means it faces steep odds of happening.
The offices of the region’s Republican members of Congress — Sen. Pat Toomey and Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick and Jeff Van Drew — did not respond to requests for comment.
Here is what local officials said of the push:
Casey: He pointed to Trump’s role in stoking the violence that unfolded at the Capitol on Wednesday. “While shocking, yesterday’s events were entirely foreseeable.,” Casey said. “They were the direct result of President Trump’s lies about the integrity of our most recent election, and his frequent incitements to violence.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.): “Donald Trump has shown he is a direct threat to the safety and security of Americans and the integrity of our democracy,” he tweeted.
Boyle said Trump should be removed “immediately, whether by invoking the 25th Amendment or Impeachment.” He said “[t]his is the most dangerous 13 days America, and indeed the world, has faced since October 1962″ during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Dean tweeted “Trump is unfit to serve. Whether it’s the 25th amendment or we have to impeach him for a *second* time. Trump must go.”
Evans said he supports invoking the cabinet invoking 25th Amendment or impeachment, noting he has long sponsored that effort.
Houlahan said Trump had “abdicated his responsibility to safeguard this nation.”
Rep. Andy Kim (D., N.J.) called for Trump to be removed from office “immediately” but did not specify how. “We can do better, and that must start with the removal of this president,” Kim said in a statement.
Rep. Donald Norcross (D., N.J.) said Trump should resign, and if not he supports “using our Constitutional rights to remove Trump from office as soon as possible.”
Scanlon said Wednesday’s attack “was a form of insurrection instigated by a sitting president. If Vice President Pence does not immediately invoke the 25th Amendment, Congress must impeach and remove this president.”
Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) had not weighed in on the issue as of Thursday evening. Menendez voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial.