Nancy Pelosi says U.S. House will move to impeach Trump unless VP forces ouster
House Speaker urges Mike Pence to invoke 25th Amendment, remove U.S. president
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday the U.S. House of Representatives will proceed with legislation to impeach U.S. President Donald Trump unless the vice-president and cabinet invoke constitutional authority to force him out, calling Trump a threat to democracy after the deadly assault on the Capitol.
Pelosi made the announcement in a letter to colleagues, saying the House will first vote to push Vice-President Mike Pence to invoke the powers of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. After 24 hours, she said, the House would proceed with legislation on impeachment. Trump could become the only president to be impeached twice.
"In protecting our Constitution and our democracy, we will act with urgency, because this president represents an imminent threat to both," she said. "The horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action."
On Monday, Pelosi's leadership team will seek a vote on a resolution calling on Pence and cabinet officials to invoke the 25th Amendment.
With the House not in session, there is likely to be an objection to its consideration. Pelosi would then put the resolution before the full House on Tuesday. If it were to pass, Pence and the cabinet would have 24 hours to act before the House would move toward impeachment.
With impeachment planning intensifying, two Republican senators want Trump to resign immediately as efforts mount to prevent Trump from ever again holding elective office in the wake of the Capitol riots.
WATCH | History professor on likelihood of Trump impeachment:
House Democrats were expected to introduce articles of impeachment on Monday and vote as soon as Tuesday. The strategy would be to condemn the president's actions swiftly but delay an impeachment trial in the Senate for 100 days.
That would allow president-elect Joe Biden to focus on other priorities as soon as he is inaugurated Jan. 20.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat and a top Biden ally, laid out the ideas Sunday as the country came to grips with the siege at the Capitol by Trump loyalists trying to overturn the election results.
"Let's give president-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running," Clyburn said.
Republicans call for resignation
Pressure was mounting for Trump to leave office even before his term ended amid alarming concerns of more unrest ahead of the inauguration.
The president whipped up the mob that stormed the Capitol, sent lawmakers into hiding and left five dead.
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania on Sunday joined Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in calling for Trump to "resign and go away as soon as possible."
"I think the president has disqualified himself from ever, certainly, serving in office again," Toomey said. "I don't think he is electable in any way."
Murkowski, who has long voiced her exasperation with Trump's conduct in office, told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday that Trump simply "needs to get out."
A third Republican, Sen. Roy Blunt, of Missouri, did not go that far, but on Sunday he warned Trump to be "very careful" in his final days in office.
WATCH | Former White House chief of staff says Trump should resign:
Short timeline
House leaders, furious after the insurrection, appear determined to act against Trump despite the short timeline.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican senator for Kentucky, has said an impeachment trial could not begin under the current calendar before Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.
WATCH | Photojournalist recalls scenes during Capitol siege:
While many have criticized Trump, Republicans have said that impeachment would be divisive in a time of unity.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said that instead of coming together, Democrats want to "talk about ridiculous things like 'Let's impeach a president'" with just days left in office.
Still, some Republicans might be supportive.
WATCH | Democrats outline plan to remove Trump from office:
Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said he would take a look at any articles that the House sent over. Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a frequent Trump critic, said he would "vote the right way" if the matter were put in front of him.
The Democratic effort to stamp Trump's presidential record — for the second time — with the indelible mark of impeachment had advanced rapidly since the riot.
Democratic Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, a leader of the House effort to draft impeachment articles accusing Trump of inciting insurrection, said Sunday that his group had 200-plus co-sponsors.
Just passed 200 cosponsors on our article of impeachment. We are going to hold Donald Trump accountable for last week’s assault on the Capitol.
—@davidcicillineThe articles, if passed by the House, could then be transmitted to the Senate for a trial, with senators acting as jurors to acquit or convict Trump. If convicted, Trump would be removed from office and succeeded by the vice-president.
Potentially complicating Pelosi's decision about impeachment was what it meant for Biden and the beginning of his presidency. While reiterating that he had long viewed Trump as unfit for office, Biden on Friday sidestepped a question about impeachment, saying what Congress did "is for them to decide."
A violent and largely white mob of Trump supporters overpowered police, broke through security lines and windows and rampaged through the Capitol on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to scatter as they were finalizing Biden's victory over Trump in the Electoral College.
Toomey appeared on CNN's State of the Union and NBC's Meet the Press. Clyburn was on Fox News Sunday and CNN. Kinzinger was on ABC's This Week, Blunt was on CBS' Face the Nation and Rubio was on Fox News Channel's Sunday Morning Futures.