Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) is a freshman, yet she found herself re-educating some of her veteran colleagues on Tuesday. Democrats are on a mission to try and get Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment to remove President Trump from office, blaming him for "inciting" last Wednesday's violence in the Capitol. And the House took the first step by passing a resolution Tuesday night formally calling on Pence to do so. The vote was 223 to 205.
Malliotakis joins her colleagues in condemning last week's chaos that has left five people dead. But she argues in a new statement that her peers are abusing and misinterpreting the 25th.
"As you know full well," she writes in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, "the 25th Amendment was designed to address Presidential incapacity or disability."
The current situation, Malliotakis argues, does not fit the bill.
I agree with @VP - we must work together to heal this nation. Invoking the 25th Amendment or Impeachment will only divide us further. We must move forward together & work to overcome this pandemic, reopen our economy & get Americans back to work. pic.twitter.com/anIfD1JKPk
— Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (@RepMalliotakis) January 13, 2021
"Just a few months ago, when you introduced legislation to create a 25th Amendment Commission, you said, '[a] President's fitness for office must be determined by science and facts,'" Malliotakis continues. "You said then that we must be [v]ery respectful of not making a judgment on the basis of a comment or behavior that we don't like, but based on a medical decision. Madam Speaker, you were right. Under our Constitution, the 25th Amendment is not a means of punishment or usurpation. Invoking the 25th Amendment in such a manner would set a terrible precedent."
The lawmaker ends by pleading with Pelosi to not take any action that would further inflame "the passions of the moment."
Yet, with Vice President Mike Pence telling Pelosi he's not on board with the 25th route, Democrats are moving on to a vote on their impeachment resolution on Wednesday.