GOP-allied business group joins calls for Pence to consider invoking 25th Amendment
The head of the National Association of Manufacturers has called on Vice President Mike Pence to consider removing President Donald Trump from office for inciting the rioting seen inside the Capitol Wednesday. Jay Timmons, the NAM's president and CEO, blasted the "armed violent protestors who support the baseless claim by outgoing president (sic) Trump that he somehow won an election that he overwhelmingly lost." Timmons is a former high-level Republican congressional aide who led the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2004.
"Throughout this whole disgusting episode, Trump has been cheered on by members of his own party, adding fuel to the distrust that has enflamed violent anger. This is not law and order. This is chaos. It is mob rule. It is dangerous. This is sedition and should be treated as such," Timmons said in a statement released by the association.
"The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy. Anyone indulging conspiracy theories to raise campaign dollars is complicit. Vice President Pence, who was evacuated from the Capitol, should seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy."
Under the 25th amendment, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet can declare that the president is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his officers," which would trigger the vice president replacing him. This scenario is unlikely. The association represents all the manufacturing sector's interests in DC, billing itself as the largest manufacturing association. Some of the group's leadership also has close ties to the GOP, having previously worked for Republican members and/or causes.
The head of the National Association of Manufacturers has called on Vice President Mike Pence to consider removing President Donald Trump from office for inciting the rioting seen inside the Capitol Wednesday. Jay Timmons, the NAM's president and CEO, blasted the "armed violent protestors who support the baseless claim by outgoing president (sic) Trump that he somehow won an election that he overwhelmingly lost." Timmons is a former high-level Republican congressional aide who led the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2004.
"Throughout this whole disgusting episode, Trump has been cheered on by members of his own party, adding fuel to the distrust that has enflamed violent anger. This is not law and order. This is chaos. It is mob rule. It is dangerous. This is sedition and should be treated as such," Timmons said in a statement released by the association.
"The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy. Anyone indulging conspiracy theories to raise campaign dollars is complicit. Vice President Pence, who was evacuated from the Capitol, should seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy."
Under the 25th amendment, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet can declare that the president is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his officers," which would trigger the vice president replacing him. This scenario is unlikely. The association represents all the manufacturing sector's interests in DC, billing itself as the largest manufacturing association. Some of the group's leadership also has close ties to the GOP, having previously worked for Republican members and/or causes.
