Pence denies discussing 25th Amendment against Trump

US Vice President Mike Pence has denied being a part of discussions to invoke the 25th Amendment in order to remove President Donald Trump from office.

He made the remarks in a CBS News interview.

Asked whether any such discussions had taken place between members of Trump's Cabinet, Pence said: "No... never."

The Vice President was responding to claims made this week in a rare anonymous op-ed published by The New York Times.

The op-ed's author, identified as a "senior administration official", claims to be part of a "quiet resistance" working to thwart President Trump's "occasionally reckless decisions" from within the administration.

In it, the official describes "early whispers within the cabinet" to invoke the 25th Amendment, prompted by the president's apparent "instability".

"I think the author of the anonymous editorial, and frankly The New York Times, should be ashamed," Pence told CBS News, denouncing it as a "disgrace".

The 25th Amendment empowers the vice president and a majority of the cabinet to replace the President, in the case he is deemed "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office".

In the years since the amendment's ratification in 1967, the mechanism has never been used.

Trump on Friday publicly implored Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate the identity of the author, later accusing the "senior administration official" of treason.

--IANS

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