Members of Donald Trump’s cabinet are reportedly weighing up invoking the 25th amendment amid renewed calls for the President to be impeached following the Capitol riots.
Three members of ‘The Squad’ – the informal name for a group of six Democratic members of the US House of Representatives – have called for Trump to be booted out of office two weeks early.
While there are murmurs within the President’s own cabinet about potentially amending the Constitution to relieve Trump of his duties, CBS News reports.
President-elect Joe Biden will officially takeover at the White House following his inauguration on January 20 regardless of whether either action comes to fruition.
Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud in the two months after ballots closed culminated in a violent riot on Wednesday afternoon, which saw four dead and 52 arrested.
(Image: LightRocket via Getty Images)
Supporters of the outgoing President smashed their way into the government building, following a Trump-attended rally on the Elipse near the White House earlier in the day.
Members of Congress were forced to flee, as rioters broke through police barricades and marauded towards the Senate chamber in an effort to halt the completion of the official Electoral College vote count.
Trump had encouraged the protests in the preceding days and – as violence erupted – continued to put out mixed messages over social media.
(Image: JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
One protester – identified as US military veteran Ashli Babbit – was shot dead after allegedly failing to heed police calls to move back, while three other people died from ‘medical issues’, police said.
As the chaos continued, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted: “Impeach.”
While Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, told ABC News: “When I say all options are on the table, I mean all options should be on the table.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Minnesota tweeted: “Donald J. Trump should immediately be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate as soon as Congress reconvenes.”
“This is dangerous & unacceptable,” she added.
As officers at the scene awaited reinforcement from the National Guard, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted she was drawing up impeachment articles.
Video Unavailable
“I am drawing up Articles of Impeachment. Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate,’ tweeted Omar.
“We can’t allow him to remain in office, it’s a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath,” she wrote.
Trump was previously impeached and acquitted following a Senate trial in December 2019 in relation to a call to the President of Ukraine.
Video Unavailable
In the event he were impeached, Trump would be barred from serving if he tried to run again in 2024.
However, securing an impeachment in a matter of days is unlikely with the prior effort including weeks of House hearings, debate and then trial.
The 25th amendment, meanwhile, has never been invoked since it was ratified in 1967.
(Image: Getty Images)
It would require a majority of cabinet leaders, plus Vice-President Mike Pence, to formally write to Congress’ leaders and say Trump is unfit to serve.
Calls have been made for Pence to trigger the 25th, accusing Trump of inciting violence, including the National Association of Manufactures chief, the head of the NAACP and Vermont’s Republican governor.
Both impeachment and invoking of the 25th would see Pence takeover as a stand-in president for a matter of days.
Pence was in the Senate chamber when rioters stormed the Capitol, and later announced he would not bow to Trump’s pressure in accepting the election was fraudulent.
