US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House of Representatives will offer a resolution on Monday calling on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment, removing him from office. In a letter to her Democratic colleagues, Ms Pelosi said if Vice President Mike Pence does not respond within 24 hours, the House will proceed with impeachment. The letter reads: “In protecting our Constitution and our democracy, we will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat to both. As the days go by, the horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action.”
The push to remove President Trump from office in his final days comes amid growing calls to hold him accountable for last week’s mayhem that left five people dead at the US Capitol as a mob of Trump supporters stormed into the building.
Neither Mr Trump nor the White House responded to Ms Pelosi’s move.
President-elect Joe Biden has taken a hands-off stance on the impeachment move against the outgoing President who has yet to concede the election but has acknowledged there will be a “new administration” in Washington come January 20.
In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Australian Liberal Party Senator Eric Abetz suggested Ms Pelosi’s influence will be far greater in the future, as he described her as Mr Biden’s “puppet master”.
He said: “The Democrat bureaucracy and establishment are clearly behind Biden.
“I would imagine Nancy Pelosi is part of that, as a puppet master.
“And the choice of Vice President will also be a great influence on President-elect Biden.”
Last week, Ms Pelosi narrowly won her fourth term as House Speaker in a Sunday vote that was hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
While a handful of Democrats defected from Ms Pelosi’s cause, she won with 216 votes, backed by notable progressives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Democrats have 222 seats in the new Congress to Republicans’ 211.
The 80-year-old California Democrat, who has led her party in the chamber since 2003, won in a 216-209 vote between her and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, with five Democrats voting present or for someone besides the Speaker.
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The daughter of a congressman from Baltimore, she is the first woman Speaker and the first since 1955 to lose the gavel and regain it. She ran unchallenged for the position.
According to Mr Abetz, Ms Pelosi could be an impediment to US access to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The CPTPP is a high-quality free trade agreement which binds together Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Mexico, Malaysia, Peru, Chile and Brunei.
It covers nearly 14 percent of the global economy and it was the centrepiece of President Barack Obama’s strategic pivot to Asia.
Before President Trump withdrew the US in 2017 – on his third day in office – the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was set to become the world’s largest free trade deal, covering 40 percent of the global economy.
Mr Trump suggested in early 2018 that he would be willing to reenter TPP discussions under certain conditions, but he quickly backtracked.
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With Mr Biden back in the White House, many are hoping the US will apply to join once again.
However, Mr Abetz said: “We will have to see.
“If it was just for Biden, maybe.
“But there are forces that will influence him, like Pelosi and the Vice President.
“We will need to see.”
