WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With only days left in his presidency, Donald Trump faces a renewed drive by Democrats to remove him from office.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top congressional Democrat, threatened to impeach Trump for an historic second time unless he resigned “immediately,” a move the president is unlikely to consider.
Democratic members are circulating formal charges that could lead to impeachment and may introduce them in the House as soon as Monday. Pelosi has also asked members to draft legislation aimed at invoking the U.S. Constitution’s 25th Amendment, which allows the removal of a president unable to fulfill the duties of the office.
Trump “has done something so serious — that there should be prosecution against him,” Pelosi told CBS’ “60 Minutes” according to an early excerpt of the interview.
The intensifying effort to oust Trump from the White House has drawn scattered support from Republicans. Democrats have pressed Vice President Mike Pence to consider the 25th Amendment, but a Pence adviser has said he opposes the idea.
The odds that Trump will actually be removed before Jan. 20, when President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in, remain long. Any impeachment in the House would trigger a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate, which is scheduled to be in recess until Jan. 19 and has already acquitted Trump once before.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent a memo to his fellow Republican senators suggesting a trial would not begin until Trump was out of office, a source familiar with the document said. A conviction in the Senate requires a two-thirds vote.
Democrats will take control of the Senate later this month, after Georgia certifies two runoff elections won by Democratic challengers.
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