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Pence was furious with Trump after hundreds of the president’s supporters violated the Capitol.
Vice President Mike Pence has indicated he will reject demands to immediately oust Donald Trump over a deadly riot by supporters of the president as the two meet and agree to work together for the remainder of the term, according to a senior official at administration.
The discussion adds to indications that Trump has no plans to step down until Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20.
It was the first time Trump and Pence had spoken since the president’s supporters stormed the Capitol as Pence presided over the formal assertion of his defeat in re-election, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The two, meeting in the Oval Office, agreed that the people who broke into the Capitol did not represent Trump’s “America First” movement and pledged to continue their work on behalf of the country for the rest of their lives. warrant, the official said. It was a good conversation in which Trump and Pence discussed the week ahead and reflected on the administration’s past four years of work, the official added.
House Democrats are seeking to hold Trump accountable for the riot if Pence does not act against the president. Lawmakers pushed ahead with plans to impeach Trump for the second time on Monday, introducing a resolution accusing Trump of “inciting insurgency”
Pence was initially furious with Trump after hundreds of the president’s supporters raped the Capitol last Wednesday, disrupting the electoral college’s vote count and prompting the vice president and lawmakers to flee the House and Senate chambers.
The episode raised the prospect that Pence could act to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which allows the vice president and a cabinet majority to remove the president from office – a move encouraged by Democratic members of Congress. But Pence privately dismissed the idea as impractical, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The report of their meeting by the senior administration official seems to put an end to the question and also exclude a presidential resignation.
The vice president’s office and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ team coordinated on behalf of the official, according to people familiar with the matter.
The official and those familiar with the matter have asked not to be identified because the meeting between Trump and Pence has not been announced.
House Democrats have introduced a resolution that calls for an impeachment vote later this week – unless Pence changes his stance and oust Trump.
Charging progresses
The chamber will consider the measure on Wednesday, according to a timetable released by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat.
A majority of House lawmakers signed the resolution, led by Democratic Representatives David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Ted Lieu of California, accusing Trump of instigating an uprising on Capitol Hill on Jan.6.
He seeks both to remove Trump from the presidency and to prevent him from returning to office. Cicillin said the resolution had enough support for its passage, including some Republicans.
The four-page measure includes an article accusing Trump of serious crimes and misdemeanors for “incitement to insurgency,” and says he “voluntarily made statements which, in context, encouraged – and presumably resulted – to illegal action on Capitol Hill “as legislators certified the Electoral College.
The measure also quotes Trump’s phone call to Georgia’s secretary of state, urging him to “find” enough votes to undo Biden’s victory there.
Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy told colleagues on Monday he opposed Trump’s impeachment.
“Personally, I continue to believe that impeachment at this time would have the opposite effect of bringing our country together when we need to put America back on the path of unity and civility,” McCarthy wrote in a letter. to grassroots Republicans.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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