A Republican member of Congress is calling for President Trump’s removal from office through invoking the 25th Amendment, a process that would involve Vice President Mike Pence and a majority of the cabinet taking the initiative.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R.-Ill.), who voted against Trump’s impeachment in 2019, said in a Thursday video that Trump must be removed from Congress following Wednesday’s mob violence at the capitol building.
Although multiple Democrats have called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked, Kinzinger is the first Republican in either the House or the Senate to support its usage.
“It's time to invoke the 25th Amendment, and to end this nightmare,” Kinzinger said. “We will arise from this, but we cannot forget what led us here. The liars and conspiracy authors are already at it again this morning with false narratives about yesterday's disaster. Here's the truth: The president caused this. The president is unfit. The president is unwell.”
Section 4 of the 25th Amendment says the president can be removed from office when the vice president and a majority of “principal officers of the executive departments” declare in writing that the “President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also called on the vice president and the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment. In the House, articles of impeachment have been introduced.
“Sadly, yesterday it became evident that not only has the president abdicated his duty to protect the American people and the people's house,” Kinzinger said. “He invoked and inflamed passions that only gave fuel to the insurrection that we saw. When pressed to move and denounce the violence, he barely did so, while of course victimizing himself and seeming to give a wink and a nod to those doing it.
“All indications are that the president has become unmoored, not just from his duty, or even his oath, but from reality itself,” Kinzinger added. “It is for this reason that I call for the vice president and members of the cabinet to ensure the next few weeks are safe for the American people – and that we have a sane captain of the ship.”
As Christian Headlines previously reported, on Thursday, Representative Ted Lieu released a bipartisan statement calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Alex Wong/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
