Mike Pence denies discussing plans to exclude Donald Trump: "obvious attempt to distract"

Vice President Mike Pence called the New York Times bombing test, detailing White House officials' efforts to eliminate Trump, "an obvious attempt to divert attention from this booming economy. [the president’s] record of success. "

In an interview with the CBS Face the nationreleased in full on Sunday, Pence rejected the allegations of the unnamed author of New York Times The editorial entitled "I'm part of the resistance inside the Trump administration," which revealed plans to remove the "trump amoral … impetuous, accusatory, petty and ineffective" from the power.

The piece, published Wednesday, has been widely criticized, with several senior officials protesting to deny their involvement in writing this article. Much of the suspicion fell on Pence, however, the Vice President has since told CBS that he "will not know" who the author is before convicting those involved in his release.

"But what I can say," he says, "is a shame. I think the author … and frankly the New York Times should be ashamed. "

When asked if discussions about Trump's elimination from his office using the 25th Amendment were underway at the White House, Pence said, "No. Never. And why would we do it?

The 25th amendment to the US Constitution states that if the incumbent president dies, resigns or is removed from office, the vice-president will assume office. It also provides procedures for replacing a vacancy in the vice-president's office and dealing with presidential disabilities.

US President Donald Trump joins Vice President Mike Pence after making a statement on the South Lawn Economy at the White House in Washington on July 27, 2018. In an interview with CBS, Pence denied the allegations White House officials plan to remove Trump from power. Reuters / Mary Calvert

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Comments come a day after The Washington Post published an article detailing the new book by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward entitled "Fear: Trump in the White House".

Woodward's book also quoted former Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus as saying in 2016 that Pence was "ready to intervene" in the presidency, with Condoleeza Rice as "vice president" if Trump was dismissed.

But rather than discussing this, Pence directed his CBS interview to attack former President Barack Obama for him to reappear in the political world on Friday.

"[The] The truth of the matter, "said Pence," is in the last eight years, despite what President Obama told us Friday, I mean that country was in trouble. "

In another interview with Fox News, also airing on Sunday, Pence said it was "very disappointing" to see the former president "become so political."

"The truth is that the American people in 2016 rejected Barack Obama's policies and leadership in the election of President Donald Trump.It was very disappointing to see President Obama break with the tradition of former presidents and become so political and deploy the same tiring argument that he and the Liberals have made over the past eight years. "