Mike Pence Denies 25th Amendment Coup Attempt

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The 25th amendment provides for the removal of a president on grounds of inability “to discharge the powers and duties of his office”. It must be invoked by the vice-president and members of the cabinet. Asked if the process had been discussed, Pence said: “No. Never. And why would we?”

In his book, Fear, a copy of which the Guardian obtained, Woodward quotes then Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus as saying in October 2016 Pence was “prepared to step up”, with former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice “as his VP”, when Trump faced the Access Hollywood tape scandal.

In his CBS interview, Pence did not dwell on such tantalising what-ifs. Instead, he swivelled mid-answer to attack Trump’s immediate predecessor. Since Friday, Barack Obama has delivered two explicitly political speeches, criticizing the president and aiming to fire up Democrats for the midterm elections.

The “truth of the matter”, Pence said, “is over the last eight years, despite what we heard from President Obama on Friday, I mean this country was struggling.”

Pence also spoke to Fox News Sunday. He told that show “it was very disappointing to see Obama break with the tradition of former presidents and become so political and roll out the same tired arguments that he and liberals have made over the last eight years”.