'Cannot endure this nightmare for a second longer': Nearly 100 lawmakers demand Pence invoke 25th Amendment

Nearly 100 Democratic lawmakers are calling on Vice President Mike Pence and Cabinet members to immediately invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Donald Trump from office for inciting the violent mob that invaded and ravaged the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday in a failed attempt to thwart the democratic process.

In a letter to Pence late Wednesday after the Capitol was finally secured, 19 members of the House Judiciary Committee wrote that "Trump's willingness to incite violence and social unrest to overturn the election results by force clearly meet" the standard required by the 25th Amendment, which gives the vice president and a majority of sitting Cabinet secretaries the authority to remove a president who is "is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.

"For the sake of our democracy, we emphatically urge you to invoke the 25th Amendment and begin the process of removing President Trump from power," the lawmakers wrote. "President Trump has shown time and again that he is unwilling to protect our democracy and carry out the duties of the office."

Other Democratic lawmakers joined their colleagues in demanding that Pence and the Cabinet remove Trump, who is set to leave office on January 20 with the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

"The 25th Amendment must be invoked immediately," Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) tweeted Thursday morning.

According to the Washington Post, "some senior administration officials began conversations about invoking the 25th Amendment" Wednesday night after Trump supporters' assault on the U.S. Capitol Building, an attack the lame-duck president egged on with his incessant lies about the election and refusal to concede defeat.

"A former senior administration official briefed on the talks confirmed that preliminary discussions of the 25th Amendment were underway, although this person cautioned that they were informal and that there was no indication of an immediate plan of action," the Post reported Thursday.

"We cannot endure this nightmare for a second longer," Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said Thursday. "If his Cabinet won't exercise the 25th, he must be impeached and removed from office."

In a statement following the official certification of Biden's decisive Electoral College victory early Thursday morning, Trump said he will submit to "an orderly transition on January 20th" while still refusing to admit his election loss.

"While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it's only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again," Trump said in a statement circulated to reporters as the president remained locked out of his Twitter and Facebook accounts due to his posts falsely disputing the election results and inciting violence.

Robert Weissman, president of consumer watchdog group Public Citizen, said late Wednesday that by provoking "an insurrection designed to advance his hapless coup attempt and erode confidence in our democratic process," Trump has "conclusively demonstrated his unfitness for office" and "cannot be permitted to remain in office even for two more weeks."

"The risks of more deranged action are simply too high," said Weissman. "The vice president and the Cabinet should immediately invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. The House of Representatives should act immediately to impeach him, with the Senate voting to convict. Once removed, Trump should be criminally prosecuted."