Vice President Mike Pence has scrapped a planned trip to Indianapolis and will remain in Washington, D.C. Friday, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will unveil a 'commission' on the 25th Amendment - a move to remove President Donald Trump from office.
'Nobody's sick. There's no positive tests. The VP is planning on traveling on Saturday and Monday,' Pence spokesman Devin O'Malley said. 'We'll have more information on the vice president's schedule next week soon.'
On Thursday, Pence was campaigning in Nevada and Arizona, while Trump remained at the White House, recovering from COVID-19. He was supposed to travel home to Indiana to vote early in the 2020 election.
He gave a free-wheeling interview to Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo and sent out a flurry of tweets, as Pelosi suggested Trump may be mentally compromised.
Vice President Mike Pence scrapped a trip to vote early in Indianapolis Friday and will now remain in Washington, D.C. Friday, his office announced Thursday afternoon, promising that, 'Nobody's sick. There's no positive tests'
Vice President Mike Pence will be in D.C. as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveils legislation to set up a commission that would look into removing President Donald Trump through the 25th Amendment after he's displayed erratic behavior being treated for COVID-19
'The president is, shall we say, in an altered state right now, so I don't know how to answer for his behavior,' Pelosi said on Bloomberg Television after a press conference in which she previewed her move on the 25th Amendment.
Later Thursday afternoon, she announced a press conference alongside Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and Constitutional expert, with the theme: 'Introduction of Legislation to Establish a Commission on Presidential Capacity.'
The legislation the House Democrats plan to introduce Friday would create a 'Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of Office.'
The 25th Amendment, which was ratified after the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, lays out how power would be transferred to the vice president if the president dies, is incapacitated, is removed or resigns.
The text of the amendment says the vice president and a majority of either the cabinet or 'such other body as Congress may the law provide' can make this power transfer.
Pence would have to agree to this transfer of power.
That seems unlikely as the vice president has remained seemingly unconcerned by the president's behavior since he tested positive for COVID-19 a week ago and was hospitalized, treated with several drugs including steroids.
'I spoke to the president this morning. He's back to the White House and he and the first lady are doing great,' Pence told his audience in Boulder City, Nevada.
Pence was doing a two-state swing after after his face-off with Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Salt Lake City, Utah Wednesday night.
He's expected back in Washington around midnight.
In Nevada, the vice president continued to praise the administration's coronavirus response - despite the current White House outbreak.
He pointed to the president's decision to partially ban incoming travel from China in late January.
'President Trump's decision that day alone saved countless American lives and allowed us to set up the largest national mobilization since World War II.'
Pence was traveling with his wife and Marsha and Carl Mueller, his guests for the vice presidential debate.
The Muellers lost their daughter Kayla to ISIS and hold President Barack Obama's administration responsible.
That allowed Pence to hit Harris' running mate, former Vice President Joe Biden, on the debate stage.
'When Joe Biden was vice president, they hesitated for a month, and when the armed forces finally went in, it was clear she'd been moved two days earlier,' Pence said.
'Her family says with a heart that broke the heart of every American that if President Trump had been president, they believe Kayla could be alive today,' Pence continued.
Pence invited the Muellers to the debate the same day two of the so-called ISIS Beatles were charged in the U.S. with crimes related to her death and the death of journalist James Foley.
The Muellers had also spoken in August at the Republican National Convention.
They arrived in Arizona and were greeted by the state's Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and GOP Sen. Martha McSally, who would take them to a portrait unveiling of their daughter, according to the White House pool.
At the debate Harris apologized to the couple for what happened to their daughter, who was abducted in Syria in 2013 and died in 2015.
'I know about your daughter's case and I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry,' Democrat Joe Biden's running mate said. 'What happened to her is awful. And it should never have happened. And I know Joe feels the same way. And I know President Obama feels the same way.'
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