Jacobs votes against invoking 25th against President Trump
House expected to vote to impeach today, with support of some Republicans
The House of Representatives approved a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, allowing the majority of the Cabinet to remove President Trump from office if they deem he can’t fulfill his duties.
Chris Jacobs
Congressman Chris Jacobs, R-Orchard Park, did not vote in favor of the resolution.
“The Constitution entrusts the Vice President and the Cabinet with the authority to invoke the 25th Amendment, and it is only intended to be used when a President is incapacitated – not as means of punishment,” Jacobs said in a statement. “Congress has no place in this process and the Vice President’s decision not to invoke the 25th Amendment makes tonight’s vote no more than political posturing from Speaker Pelosi. At a time when our nation cannot bear more division, the Speaker should pull consideration of this resolution from the floor and instead work with us to heal the country.”
Pence said he won’t invoke the amendment and urged Speaker Pelosi to focus on ensuring an orderly transition from Trump to President-elect Joe Biden, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
“Last week, I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our nation,” Pence said in a letter to Pelosi on Tuesday.
Pelosi and many in the House are expected to vote to impeach Trump today for his role in a Capitol riot a week ago and also for pressuring the Georgia secretary of state on Jan. 2 to “find” enough votes to overturn the state’s presidential election. Trump, in a recording of a phone call to Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state, threatens him if he fails to overturn the results, according to the Article of Impeachment in the House.
The Article states that Trump “gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of the government.” The Article says the president threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power and “imperiled” a coequal branch of government.
Some Republicans, including John Katko from near Syracuse, say they will vote to impeach Trump after a Capitol siege left five people dead and forced members of Congress to evacuate from their Chambers while they were preparing to vote to certify the electoral results.
The insurrectionists were Trump supporters and not outside infiltrators, such as Antifa, as some Trump allies have alleged, according to the FBI. Trump addressed the group at the national mall and urged them to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell” after claiming the election was stolen from him.
Katko was the first House Republican to publicly acknowledge he will join House Democrats in voting to impeach.
“To allow the president of the United States to incite this attack without consequence is a direct threat to the future of our democracy,” Katko said in a statement. “For that reason, I cannot sit by without taking action. I will vote to impeach this president.”
Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House, said she would vote to impeach the president.
“There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” Cheney said in a statement on Tuesday.
