Pelosi Is Officially Launching Second Trump Impeachment, Will Also Activate 25th Amendment

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Update (1900ET): In a letter sent late on Sunday, Nancy Pelosi confirmed that the coming week will be focused entirely on removing Trump out of office, when she informed colleagues that the House will pass a resolution calling on Pence to invoke the 25th amendment. This will be followed by impeachment. 

Her full letter below:

Dear Democratic Colleague,

On this Sunday, as we pray that God will continue to Bless America, I write to inform you of our next actions, which will be made with the great solemnity that this moment requires.

I want to call to your immediate attention the action to be taken tomorrow morning, when Majority Leader Hoyer will request Unanimous Consent to bring up the Raskin resolution. This resolution calls on the Vice President to convene and mobilize the Cabinet to activate the 25th Amendment to declare the President incapable of executing the duties of his office, after which the Vice President would immediately exercise powers as acting President. The text of the resolution can be found here.

If we do not receive Unanimous Consent, this legislation is planned to be brought up on the Floor the following day. We are calling on the Vice President to respond within 24 hours.

Next, we will proceed with bringing impeachment legislation to the Floor.

In protecting our Constitution and our Democracy, we will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat to both. As the days go by, the horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action.

I look forward to our Caucus call tomorrow. I am grateful to all Members for the suggestions, observations and input that you have been sending. Your views on the 25th Amendment, 14th Amendment Section 3 and impeachment are valued as we continue. I am answering your communications in chronological order and will do so into the night.

Thank you for your patriotism.

Prayerfully,

In other words, the second impeachment of Trump will begin on Tuesday if Pence refuses to invoke the 25th amendment, for which Pelosi has given the VP 24 hours.

NEW: Nancy Pelosi confirms that the (second) impeachment is on. pic.twitter.com/532Ipnpvo3

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) January 10, 2021

There are just a few caveats: as the Constitution Center explains, to forcibly wrest power from Trump, Vice President Mike Pence would have to be on board, according to the text of the amendment. Pence would also need either a majority of Trump’s Cabinet officials to agree the President is unfit for office and temporarily seize power from him. Neither is very likely.

Next, Trump could dispute their move with a letter to Congress. Pence and the Cabinet would then have four days to dispute him, Congress would then vote — it requires a two-thirds supermajority, usually 67 senators and 290 House members to permanently remove him. This too is unlikely.

Congress could also appoint its own body to review the President’s fitness instead of the Cabinet. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, during the last Congress, introduced a bill to create a congressional body for this purpose, but it was not signed into law.

* * * * *

Democratic efforts to impeach President Trump for a second time are well underway, with a senior Democratic lawmaker telling Bloomberg that a House vote on articles of impeachment could come as soon as Tuesday, which would then be held for several months before they send them to the Senate in order to avoid triggering an immediate trial.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/house-impeachment-vote-could-come-soon-tuesday-according-senior-democrat