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Momentum Increases Among PA Dems Urging Pence to Invoke 25th Amendment to Remove Trump

Momentum is growing among Pennsylvania Democrats in the push to impeach and remove President Donald Trump from office. 

Since President Donald Trump held a rally falsely claiming that the election was stolen and after rioters stormed the Capitol, a majority of the Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation have now called on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment or endorsed impeachment to result in Trump being removed from office. 

The effort started on Wednesday, when three Democrats, Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-Montgomery), Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia), and Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Delaware), all issued statements within minutes of each other urging Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment in response to the riots at the Capitol. 

“Tonight, I am requesting VP Pence invoke the 25th Amendment and begin the process of assuming the duties from President Trump who has shown his incapacity to serve,” Dean wrote on Twitter on Wednesday night. “The president incited an assault on the seat of government because he cannot accept the reality of his election loss. He is clearly unfit for office and must be removed from command.”

Dean sent a follow-up tweet on Thursday, reiterating her position that Trump should be remove from office, “whether it’s the 25th amendment or we have to impeach him.” 

“I am calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment,” Scanlon wrote on Twitter on Wednesday night. “This president must be removed from office.”

Scanlon also echoed her sentiments that Trump should be removed from office on Thursday, sending out multiple tweets saying that Pence should invoke the 25th Amendment – and if he doesn’t – she pointed to Articles of Impeachment, which she cosponsored along with other House Democrats. 

Evans said he supported either of the following options in a tweet on Wednesday night: “Trump resigning ASAP; 25th Amendment removal of Trump; Impeachment if it comes up for a vote.” 

Evans sent out multiple tweets on Thursday saying that he will co-sponsor the impeachment resolution.

Sen. Bob Casey and three more congressional Democrats from the state joined the calls in removing Trump from office on Thursday as well. 

“President Trump is a threat to our domestic and national security. It is self-evident that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” Casey said in a part of a thread of tweets. “I call on Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and begin the process of removing the powers of the presidency from Donald Trump. This is the quickest way to protect our domestic and national security.”

“I have joined @RepJohnLarson and other Members of Congress in urging @VP and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove @realDonaldTrump from the office of President in order to prevent him from causing more damage to the United States between now and Inauguration Day,” Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Allegheny) wrote in a tweet on Thursday afternoon. 

Doyle also sent a tweet on Thursday evening announcing that he cosponsored articles articles of impeachment. 

“The President incited an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in an effort to undermine the will of the American people,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester) wrote in a tweet on Thursday afternoon. “Today, I am urging the Vice President and members of the Cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment.”

Houlahan also delivered a 2:50 video message on Twitter explaining her position. 

“This is the most dangerous 13 days America, and indeed the world, has faced since October 1962. Then, the threat was external. Now, it is from within,” Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Philadelphia) wrote in a tweet on Thursday evening. “Donald Trump must be removed from office immediately, whether by invoking the 25th Amendment or Impeachment. #RemoveTrumpNow

Rep. Susan Wild (D-Lehigh) was the seventh member of the state’s congressional delegation to call for Trump to be removed from office on Friday.

“What happened this week must never be allowed to happen again,” Wild said in a written statement. “And now is the time to demonstrate to our nation and to the world that our democracy is still strong and that no one is above the law. That process begins with ensuring accountability.”

“I am calling on Vice President Pence to do his patriotic duty and secure the support of an adequate number of cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment and immediately remove the President from office,” Wild continued. “This is a bipartisan call, as Republican governors and Members of Congress have also stated that Trump must be removed. If that does not happen, I will vote to impeach the President.”

Reps. Matt Cartwright (D-Lackawanna) and Conor Lamb (D-Allegheny) have not issued public statements formally backing the removal of Trump in response to the riots, although they both criticized his handling of the matter on Thursday. 

WESA reported that Lamb said he isn’t ready to weigh in on the 25th Amendment or impeachment, but did signal that he could support it, saying that Trump seems to be in a “declining state of mind.”

“We certainly have to be ready based on what we saw from the president, to deal with the threat he could pose to the nation,” Lamb told WESA on Thursday. “He….obviously seems to be [in] a declining state of mind. I’m not ready to say a specific path is the right one. But there are people preparing for many. Something that I saw firsthand …throughout the day was there were people in this government taking things into their own hands and doing the right things. And that alone can probably get us through to Jan. 20. But we’re going to be ready for anything.”

No Republicans in the state’s congressional delegation have voiced support for the effort to impeach or remove Trump from office. On early Thursday morning, eight members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, all Republican, voted to object to counting Pennsylvania’s electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden. 

Sen. Pat Toomey (R) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) were the only Republicans in the state not to back the effort to object to counting the state’s electoral votes for Biden.

In Dec. 2019, the state’s entire Democratic congressional delegation voted forward two articles of impeachment, charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after the president’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, while all Republicans in the state did not support impeachment.

This story was updated to note that Rep. Susan Wild (D-Lehigh) is also calling for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office and backs impeachment.

6 Responses

  1. Brendan Boyle was downright pottymouthed in his attacks on our President.

    And his Twitter feed shown show some self restraint.

  2. Should have been a slew of dead rioters outside the doors of Capitol Hill. Not one should have gotten inside. This was an invasion and attack on govt by domestic terrorists. They should have been treated as such. Police utterly failed to perform their duty to protect Congress and the integrity of the building and its LAWFUL occupants.

    1. That is a sick and terroristic comment. And you think Trump was the danger? He never called for the deaths that you just did.You are the terrorist. You are the danger!

  3. I know how everyone feels but the Dems need not to get too bogged down on Trump that they are distracted from their electoral mandates.

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