Pence reportedly still considering 25th Amendment
Trump and Pence still have not spoken since the incursion according to a CNN source
Vice President Mike Pence is still open to invoking the 25th Amendment and wants to preserve the option in case President Donald Trump’s unstable behavior escalates, a source close to the vice president says.
According to CNN, the source said Pence’s team fears there are risks to invoking the 25th Amendment or even to an impeachment process, as Trump could recklessly lash out, putting the nation at risk.
Read More: Pence’s chief of staff denied entry into WH: Trump ‘blaming me’
Another source told CNN that Trump and Pence still have not spoken since the incursion at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, nor has the President publicly denounced the death threats posted on social media that target the vice president.
Pence has finally “gotten a glimpse of POTUS’s vindictiveness,” one source said.
Trump used his Wednesday rally to try and bully the vice president into doing his bidding after the vice president told him he did not believe he had the power to block congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
Read More: Pence defies Trump in letter, says he can’t reject electoral votes
“Mike Pence, I hope you’re gonna stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country, and if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you, I will tell you right now. I’m not hearing good stories,” Trump said at the rally, causing his supporters to regard Pence with suspicion.
After the rioting began at the Capitol, and despite Trump supporters chanting, “Hang Mike Pence,” the president never checked on Pence or his family, who were also on the premises.
Invoking the 25th Amendment would require the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to vote to remove Trump from office due to his inability to “discharge the powers and duties of his office” — an unprecedented step.
Trump could dispute their move with a letter to Congress. Pence and the Cabinet would then have four days to dispute him and Congress would then vote — it requires a two-thirds supermajority, usually 67 senators and 290 House members to permanently remove him.
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