It appears that Vice President Pence has no appetite for invoking the 25th Amendment, which would remove Trump from office. Pence has avoided taking calls from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
One reason given for Pence’s reticence is that section four of the 25th Amendment appears to set a rather lengthy process by which the sitting president can appeal the decision to be removed from office. Given that Trump has 2 weeks left in office, the thinking goes, what would be the point of starting something that cannot be finished.
Well, in fact the coming 12 days may prove to be the most important in the history of the Republic. Nancy Pelosi has already spoken with General Milley about keeping the nuclear codes away from Trump. That it has gotten to this point speaks volumes about the threat the country is facing.
But there does not need to be a delay or an appeal process. If Pence were to declare Trump unfit by invoking section four of the 25th Amendment the effect would be immediate. According to the Constitution, upon transmission of the decision to invoke the 25th Amendment, “the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”
Why is this important? Well, Trump incited a riot that led to the death of five people. According to DC law, Trump faces immediate arrest and imprisonment of no more than 180 days. But it gets more interesting than this, according to DC law, Trump faces ten years in jail:
If in the course and as a result of a riot a person suffers serious bodily harm or there is property damage in excess of $5,000, every person who willfully incited or urged others to engage in the riot shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine of not more than the amount set forth in § 22-3571.01, or both.
https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/sections/22-1322.html
Since Trump would immediately cease to be president, nothing would stand on the way of DC police from arresting him immediately. Therefore, even if Trump mounted an appeal from behind bars, he would still be remanded to a DC jail for the immediate future. This would give the world the breathing space it needs until the 20th.
Remember that Al Capone went to jail for tax evasion and not for his other criminal activities. It’s the small things that count. Sounds crazy? Well, how crazy did it sound to worry about a Putsch?