GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger calls for Pence to invoke 25th Amendment and remove Trump from presidency

Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois has joined Democrats in calling for Vice President Mike Pence and the Trump administration Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove President Donald Trump from office before the official end of his term in 13 days.

"It's with a heavy heart I am calling for the sake of our Democracy that the 25th Amendment be invoked," Kinzinger tweeted Thursday.

"Yesterday was a sad day, as we all know. It was the day where fires stoked by the president and other leaders finally leapt out of the pit and then lit the trees. Thankfully, the strength of our Constitution and democracy held, and we emerge today a little battered but resolved," he began in a video statement.

"What happened yesterday is a wake-up call to many, but it's a call to accountability for others," he continued.

Kinzinger said that in the past, the 25th Amendment had been invoked by prior administrations to temporarily relieve the president of his duties and powers while he underwent minor surgery. Now he says it's time to invoke the amendment to remove Trump from power, accusing the president of violating his oath of office by not doing enough to stop the mob that sieged the U.S. Capitol Wednesday.

"Sadly yesterday it became evident that not only has the president abdicated his duty to protect the American people and the people's House, he invoked and inflamed passions that only gave fuel to the insurrection that we saw here. When pressed to move and denounce the violence he barely did so, while of course victimizing himself and seeming to give a wink and a nod to those doing it," Kinzinger charged.

"All indications are that the president has become unmoored not just from his duty, or even his oath, but from reality itself. It is for this reason that I call for the vice president and members of the Cabinet to ensure that the next few weeks are safe for the American people and that we have a sane captain of the ship," he demanded.

"It's time to invoke the 25th Amendment and to end this nightmare."

Kinzinger joins several Democratic lawmakers who have called for the president to be removed from office since the riots, including Reps. Ted Lieu (Calif.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), David Cicilline (R.I.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Jennifer Wexton (Va.), and presumptive Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.).

Schumer, the top Democrat in the U.S. Senate, called for Trump's immediate removal from office Wednesday evening, invoking the 25th Amendment.

"What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president. This president should not hold office one day longer," he said.

"The quickest and most effective way — it can be done today — to remove this president from office would be for the vice president to immediately invoke the 25th amendment," he continued. "If the vice president and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president."