US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have met for the first time since rioters stormed the Capitol last week, signaling a united front as Democratic efforts to impeach Mr Trump gain momentum.
The meeting in the Oval Office, described as “a good conversation” by a senior official, came ahead of a critical 48-hour period when Mr Pence will come under pressure to break from the president and initiate his removal.
The House of Representatives will vote today, calling for Mr Pence and the cabinet to invoke the US Constitution’s 25th Amendment, which would declare Mr Trump unfit to perform his duties and install Mr Pence as acting president.
Mr Pence’s meeting with Mr Trump appeared to quash any prospects of that outcome.
The two men “reiterated that those who broke the law and stormed the Capitol last week do not represent the America First movement backed by 75 million Americans, and pledged to continue the work on behalf of the country for the remainder of their term,” the official said.
Democrats will follow up today’s vote with impeachment proceedings.
The move, which threatens to torpedo any hopes of a political future for Mr Trump, could make for a tense culmination of four years of controversy ahead of Joe Biden’s 20 January inauguration.
While Joe Biden’s transition team expressed confidence in the ability to hold a safe inauguration, the FBI warned in an internal memo that armed pro-Trump protesters could seek to disrupt the inauguration.
The bureau, according to ABC News, also received information on a group seeking to “storm” government offices in all 50 states on Inauguration Day.
Authorities are seeking to arrest more people who raided the Capitol after a rally by the president when he repeated false claims that Democrats stole the election through fraud. The siege left five people dead.
Military personnel have flooded into Washington, where as many as 15,000 National Guard troops could be deployed.
In the US Capitol yesterday, where security has tightened substantially including a metal fence around the building, Republicans blocked immediate passage of the 25th Amendment resolution, forcing a debate and House vote.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi hit out at Republicans, accusing them of enabling Mr Trump’s “unhinged, unstable and deranged acts of sedition to continue”.
Support appeared to be crumbling within the president’s inner circle.
Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which safeguards the inauguration, resigned yesterday, the third cabinet member to quit since the riot.
In the Republican-controlled Senate, which is on recess until 19 January, top Democrat Chuck Schumer is said to be considering a rarely used manoeuvre to force the chamber back into session under emergency circumstances to more quickly open an impeachment trial.
But some Democrats have expressed concern that a trial would hamper Mr Biden’s efforts to get his cabinet confirmed and quickly lay out his agenda, starting with the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and the need to support the economy.
Mr Biden, speaking in Delaware after receiving his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine, told reporters he was talking with congressional leaders to see if it were possible to “bifurcate” the process.
He proposed working “half day on dealing with impeachment, and half day getting my people nominated and confirmed in the Senate as well as moving on the (economic) package.”