US President Donald Trump (File photo)

Several House Republicans are joining Democrats in voting to impeach President Donald Trump as Vice-President Mike Pence is refusing to invoke the 25th Amendment to oust him.

On Tuesday night, the US House of Representatives approved a resolution urging Pence to do so, but the vice-president, in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said he will not help remove Trump from power.

Citing Trump’s role in inciting a massive violent invasion of the United States Capitol last Wednesday, the resolution passed by a vote of 223-205.

It called on Pence to immediately use his powers under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments in the Cabinet to declare what is obvious to a horrified Nation: That the President is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office.

Pence, however, said in his letter, I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution, accusing House Democrats of playing political games.

With eight days remaining in the Republican president’s term in office, the House is poised on Wednesday to pass an article of impeachment amid continuing fallout from last week’s deadly Capitol violence.

After two months of refusal to accept his defeat in the November 3 election, Trump urged supporters to march on the Capitol and fight like hell. Armed protesters broke into the US Capitol on Jan. 6, forcing the chamber to halt the ongoing vote to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s election win.

Meanwhile, at least four Republicans, including a member of the House leadership, said they would join the effort to vote for Trump’s impeachment.

There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution, said Liz Cheney, the No. 3 House Republican.

Cheney said in a statement that Trump summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack on the Capitol, adding, I will vote to impeach the president.

The other three Republican House members who said they would vote for impeachment include John Katko, Adam Kinzinger and Fred Upton.

In addition, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, has told associates he believes Trump had committed impeachable offenses and that he is pleased with the Democrats’ move to impeach him, The New York Times reported citing people familiar with his thinking.

The minority leader and one of Trump’s most steadfast allies in Congress, Representative Kevin McCarthy, has also asked other Republicans whether he should urge the president to resign, according to three Republican officials briefed on the conversations.

However, neither of Congress’s two top Republicans has said publicly that Trump should resign or be impeached.

Trump, in his first public appearance since the violent protest, defended his repeated remarks that Biden’s election win was illegitimate.

What I said was totally appropriate, he told reporters before he began his trip to the US-Mexico border wall near Alamo, Texas on Tuesday.

Top US military leaders condemn Capitol protest

The US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the uniformed leaders of the military branches, put out a rare message to service members on Tuesday, condemning the violent demonstrations.

The violent riot in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 was a direct assault on the US Congress, the Capitol building, and our Constitutional process, the seven generals and one admiral said in an internal memo to troops.

They also reminded that Biden would be inaugurated on Jan. 20 and become their commander in chief, noting, Any act to disrupt the Constitutional process is not only against our traditions, values, and oath; it is against the law.

The joint message, which broke nearly a week of silence by the military leaders following the violent protests, come after some service members had privately expressed concern that senior leaders did not provide direction in the aftermath of the violence.

So far, some of Trump’s cabinet members including acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller have condemned the incident, however, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley has remained silent until now.