VP Press Sec. Dismisses ‘Anonymous’ Report Pence Supported Using 25th Amendment to Oust Trump
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Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary shot down as “fake news” the alleged claim that Pence would’ve supported removing President Donald Trump on 25th Amendment grounds after the president abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey. The purported revelation was included in a pre-publication excerpt from the new insider’s account of the Trump White House, A Warning, written by an anonymous author.
FAKE NEWS. https://t.co/cOB5SXzIG5
— Katie Waldman (@VPPressSec) November 7, 2019
Waldman’s tweet was a pointed Twitter rebuttal to a Huffington Post story that details — but does not directly quote — the anecdote in the book, which was leaked to HuffPost reporter.
According to the excerpt from the book, which is set to be published on Nov. 19, a “highly placed White House official” did an informal whip count of Trump’s cabinet in 2017 to tally how many of themmight support invoking Section 4 of the 25th Amendment after the president’s behavior grew increasingly erratic in the wake of his firing of Comey. That provision of the Constitution says if a majority of the Cabinet present a letter to the vice president claiming that the president is no longer fit for office, and the vice president signs it, then the removal process can begin in the Congress and the vice president assumes the duties of the president.
Though the book acknowledges the 25th Amendment gambit never progressed beyond the hypothetical stage, it does claim that unnamed White House aides were certain Pence would’ve assented to the ouster if a majority of Trump’s cabinet thought it necessary. Back in 2018, after the same anonymous author published a highly-charged “I Am Part of the Resistance” op-ed in the New York Times, CBS News’ Margaret Brennan asked Pence point blank if he had ever been part of any discussions about the 25the Amendment, to which he said: “No, never.”
