Wallace: Pence choosing the Constitution over Trump was the right and only choice
The Constitution does not give power to the vice president to unilaterally reject lawfully certified electors, ‘Fox News Sunday’ anchor Chris Wallace says.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Thursday that he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tried but were unsuccessful in reaching Vice President Pence to discuss exercising the Constitutional provision for removing the president from office.
Schumer discussed the issue during a press conference in which he argued cabinet members should use the 25th Amendment in response to Wednesday’s riots at the U.S. Capitol.
“If the vice president and the Cabinet won’t invoke the 25th [Amendment], Congress should come back in session immediately and impeach the president,” he said at a press conference in New York City. “Oh, and Speaker Pelosi and I tried to call the vice president this morning to tell him to do this. They kept us on hold for 25 minutes and then said the vice president wouldn’t come on the phone — so we are making this call public.”
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Pelosi appeared to allude to the call during her weekly press briefing. She said “the new majority leader of the Senate and I have made our interest in this known.”
Pelosi’s, Pence’s, and Schumer’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News’ requests for comment.
While it’s unclear how Pence will act, the Democrats’ call came amid apparent division within the executive branch. After Pence rejected the president’s request to challenge the election results in the Senate, Trump accused him of lacking courage.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., told Tulsa World that Pence was angry in the face of the president’s backlash.
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“I’ve known Mike Pence forever,” Inhofe said. “I’ve never seen Pence as angry as he was today.”
Inhofe added that he had a long conversation with Pence in which the vice president complained about Trump’s treatment of him.
“He said, ‘After all the things I’ve done for (Trump),'” Inhofe added.
As of Thursday afternoon, several top advisers had resigned from the administration, including Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and the first lady’s chief of staff.
Mick Mulvaney, who previously served in multiple positions in the administration, told CNBC he had to leave.
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“I called [Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo last night to let him know I was resigning from that,” he said of his position as special envoy to Northern Ireland. “I can’t do it. I can’t stay.”
Leaving is a difficult choice.
“Those who choose to stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they’re worried the president might put someone worse in.”
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