US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi has disclosed that the House will proceed with legislation to impeach President Donald Trump as early as this week if Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet refuse to remove him from office in the wake of the assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Pelosi delivered the ultimatum in a letter to colleagues on Sunday night, describing the president as an urgent threat to the nation.
The House will move forward with a non-binding resolution that calls on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, and strip Trump of his presidential authority today, January 11. If the measure fails to receive unanimous support, as is expected, the House will vote on the resolution on Tuesday.
Vice President Pence would have “24 hours” to respond, according to Pelosi.
Next, Pelosi said the House “will proceed with bringing impeachment legislation to the floor.”
“In protecting our Constitution and our Democracy, we will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat to both,” she wrote. “As the days go by, the horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action.”
Pelosi also noted urgency was required because Trump was due to leave office on 20 January.
She explained that the resolution called on Pence “to convene and mobilize the cabinet to activate the 25th amendment to declare the president incapable of executing the duties of his office.”
Under the procedure, the vice president “would immediately exercise powers as acting president,” she wrote.
On Sunday, Pelosi told 60 Minutes Trump was “a deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States,” adding that he has done something “so serious that there should be prosecution against him”.
Here’s ?Pelosi?’s letter to her colleagues.
