Congress calls for activation of Trump's removal process despite Pence's rejection

In a session held six days after Trump's supporters attacked the Capitol in Washington, where five people died, the congressmen approved the initiative by 223 votes to 205.

In the resolution, the congressmen ask Pence to declare Trump "incapable of performing the duties of his office and of immediately exercising the powers as acting president".

However, the vote became a mere formality in light of the refusal of the second in command of the Trump Administration to move in that direction.

Pence anticipated the vote by circulating a letter hours earlier to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, calling for "avoidance of actions that would divide and further inflame the passions of the moment.

"I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our nation or consistent with our Constitution," the vice president said of the mechanism promoted by the progressives with eight days left in Trump's term.

"Last week," Pence stressed, "I did not give in to pressure to exercise beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election and I will not now give in to efforts by the House of Representatives to play political games at such a serious time in the life of our nation.

The Vice President thus made an unspoken reference to Trump's pressure to arrogate powers that did not belong to him under the Constitution and to interfere with the session of both houses of Congress called to certify Joe Biden's victory in last November's election.

The New York Times revealed part of a telephone conversation Trump had with Pence last Wednesday in a final attempt to convince him to reverse the election result.

"You can go down in history as a patriot," Trump told Pence, according to the New York Times' version, which cited the testimonies of two people informed about the conversation.

In his letter, Pence warned that using this amendment "would set a terrible precedent" and pledged to ensure "an orderly transition of power".

During the day, Trump broke his silence and in the first declarations to the press after what happened in the Legislative defended as "totally appropriate" his harangue for his followers to march to the Capitol.

"If you read the speech (...) people thought what I said was totally appropriate," said the president. Once in Texas, where he went to inspect the progress of the construction of the wall on the border with Mexico, the president assured that there is "zero risk" that his Cabinet will dismiss him.

"The 25th Amendment means zero risk to me, but it will take its toll on Joe Biden and his Administration. As the expression goes, be careful what you wish for," Trump said, without clarifying what he meant, since the president-elect has not gone so far as to explicitly request that the mechanism be activated.

Trump also described the opening of the second impeachment against him as "absolutely ridiculous" and "a continuation of the biggest witch-hunt in the history of politics".

Democrats will seek to charge the president on Wednesday with "inciting insurrection," an effort that has won the support of at least four Republican lawmakers: Illinois Congressman Adam Kizinger, Wyoming Congressman Liz Cheney, New York Congressman John Katko and Michigan Congressman Fred Upton.

The New York Times also revealed that the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, was satisfied with a possible impeachment of Trump and believes that a possible impeachment could help purge his party of supporters of the current president.

The process begun on Monday in the Lower House promises to force the Senate to subject Trump to a political trial that will take place when Biden is in power, and which therefore will not have as its main objective the removal of the president from office but rather his possible disqualification from holding future political positions.