US House passes resolution calling to remove President Trump by 25th Amendment

The US House of Representative passed on Tuesday evening a resolution urging Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to expel President Donald Trump from office.

Pence has said he would not yield to the calls.

The Democratic-run chamber, anticipating the vice president’s resistance, was already barreling ahead with plans to impeach Trump on Wednesday for an unprecedented second time.

With just over a week left in Trump’s tumultuous one-term presidency, Democratic lawmakers from Texas and beyond — joined by a small but growing number of Republicans — were channeling their fury over the Capitol insurrection into a frenetic attempt to secure Trump’s removal.

The House voted 223-205, along near-strict party lines, in support of the 25th Amendment resolution.

Several Lone Star State conservatives cautioned against proceeding down such a path.

“Dragging our country through yet another impeachment will only further divide us and neglect real issues the American people are confronting on a daily basis,” said freshman Rep. Beth Van Duyne, an Irving Republican who accused Democrats of “political theater.”

But some Democrats barely contained their outrage over the GOP’s calls for unity, days after Trump and his allies spurred a riot amid Trump’s baseless claims of a stolen election.

President Trump on his won part criticized the potential impeachment as a “continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics.”

“For Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, to continue on this path, it’s causing tremendous danger to our country,” the president said, referring to the House speaker and the Senate minority leader. “It’s causing tremendous anger. I want no violence.”

Pence effectively ended the debate as it was ongoing on Capitol Hill, telling Pelosi late Tuesday that the “25th Amendment is not a means of punishment or usurpation” and that “invoking the 25th Amendment in such a manner would set a terrible precedent.”