Pelosi, Schumer Join Chorus Of Calls For Invocation Of 25th Amendment Against Trump

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have called for President Trump to be removed from office via the 25th Amendment.

"I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment," Pelosi said at a news conference Wednesday. "If the vice president and Cabinet do not act the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment."

Pelosi said she does not expect they will wait long for Vice President Mike Pence to respond to the call. "It will be yes or it will be no," she said.

She said: "We would hope" to have Pence respond today and that she and incoming Majority Leader Chuck Schumer "have made our interest in this known" to the vice president.

Her remarks came after similar comments by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

"The quickest and most effective way — it can be done today — to remove this president from office would be for the vice president to immediately invoke the 25 ^th amendment," Schumer said in a statement Thursday morning.

"If the vice president and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president."

Invoking the 25th Amendment would require the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to vote to remove Trump from office. It is intended to be used when the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.

Such an attempt is unlikely to succeed, given that Trump's term ends in two weeks and Congress is currently not in session.

Pelosi and Schumer's comments come a day after Trump appeared at a rally at which he told supporters that the Nov. 3 presidential election "was stolen from you, from me, from the country." He urged the crowd to march to Capitol Hill, where lawmakers were gathered to certify President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College win.

The pro-Trump extremists laid siege to the Capitol, bringing violence and destruction.

Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who has been among the most outspoken Republican critics of the president, also called for Trump to be removed from office via the 25th Amendment.

"The president is unfit. The president is unwell," he said in a video statement.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., announced she is drafting articles of impeachment against Trump.

"Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate," wroteOmar. "We can't allow him to remain in office, it's a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath."

Trump was impeached in 2019 by the House over accusations he tried to influence Ukraine to target Joe Biden's son, but in early 2020, Republicans used their majority in the Senate to keep him in office.

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