US Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday (local time) told House leaders he does not support invoking the 25th amendment process to remove Donald Trump, all but guaranteeing an imminent impeachment vote against the president.
“With just eight days left in the President’s term, you and the Democratic Caucus are demanding that the Cabinet and I invoke the 25th Amendment,” Mr Pence wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, referring to the process that would declare Mr Trump unable to fulfill his duties and install Mr Pence as acting president for the remainder of the term.
“I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our nation or consistent with our Constitution,” he said, hours before the House was to vote on a measure calling on him to initiate the 25th Amendment process or risk an impeachment vote against Trump.
The Vice President’s announcement came as Mr Trump’s iron grip on his party showed further signs of weakening as at least three Republicans, including a member of the House leadership, said they would vote to impeach him after his supporters stormed the Capitol.
Liz Cheney, the third highest ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, said: “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” as the Democratic-led chamber moved forward on a path to remove Mr Trump from office.
Mr Trump “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack” on the Capitol last Wednesday, Ms Cheney, the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, said in a statement, adding: “I will vote to impeach the president.”
Two other Republican House members, John Katko and Adam Kinzinger, said they would also vote for the historic second impeachment of the Republican president, who leaves office in just eight days.
Their announcements came as Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday refrained from urging their members to vote against impeaching Mr Trump, saying it was a matter of individual conscience after his supporters ransacked the Capitol.
The House plans to vote as soon as Wednesday on an article of impeachment charging Mr Trump with inciting insurrection unless he resigns.
The New York Times reported that the Republican majority leader of the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, was said to be pleased about the Democratic impeachment push, suggesting Trump’s party was looking to move on from him after last week’s stunning attack on Congress.
Mr McConnell believes the impeachment effort will make it easier to purge Mr Trump from the party, the Times said.
Making his first public appearance since last Wednesday’s riot, Mr Trump showed no contrition for remarks he made to supporters at a rally before they stormed the seat of Congress and also lambasted Democrats for pushing ahead with a drive to impeach him for an unprecedented second time.
“What I said was totally appropriate,” Trump told reporters as he left for a trip to the US-Mexico border wall near Alamo, Texas, his first public foray since the assault on the Capitol. “I want no violence.”
