The US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation calling on Vice President Mike Pence to use his constitutional authority to remove President Donald Trump from office in response to the President's role in the deadly mob attack on the Capitol last week.
According to The Hill, Representative Jamie Raskin from Maryland led the resolution, which calls on Pence, joined by other members of the Cabinet, to oust Trump by activating the 25th Amendment, which allows for the President's removal if he's deemed "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office".
"It is critical for us now to make clear that this was an absolute dereliction of presidential duty," Raskin said.
The bill passed 223-205. One GOP (another name for the Republican Party) lawmaker, Representative Adam Kinzinger, joined with every voting Democrat in approving the measure.
Most GOP lawmakers, however, opposed the effort. Some defended Trump's actions as harmless; others denounced the president's behaviour but argued against his removal so close to the end of his term.
The Hill further reported that Representative Tom Cole, a senior Republican on the Rules Committee, said the decision to initiate a president's removal under the 25th Amendment simply falls outside of Congress's powers. "There is no role for Congress absent a dispute between the President and the Vice President and Cabinet over his or her ability to fulfill those duties," he said.
Vice President Mike Pence, on Tuesday, in a letter to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said that he would reject the call to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump.
Democrats in the lower chamber plan to vote on Wednesday to impeach Trump, setting up an impeachment vote one week after rioters overran Capitol police and breached some of the most secure areas of the Capitol.
On January 6, a group of Donald Trump's loyalists stormed the US Capitol building, clashing with the police, damaging property, seizing the inauguration stage and occupying the rotunda.
The unrest took place after Trump urged his supporters to protest what he claims is a stolen presidential election. The outgoing President has since been blocked on all major social networks at least until after he is out of office.
Five people - four protesters and a police officer - were killed in the riots. The last time the Capitol was stormed was when British troops marched into Washington and set fire to the building in 1814.
( With inputs from ANI )
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