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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Thursday called on Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and begin the process of removing the powers of the presidency from Donald Trump.
				&ldquo;This is the quickest way to protect our domestic and national security,&rdquo; Casey said. &ldquo;On Wednesday, domestic terrorists, inspired, encouraged and emboldened by President Donald Trump, attacked the U.S. Capitol Building in furtherance of an attempted coup. While shocking, yesterday&rsquo;s events were entirely foreseeable.&rdquo;
				Casey went on to say that the actions were the direct result of &ldquo;President Trump&rsquo;s lies about the integrity of our most recent election, and his frequent incitements to violence.&rdquo;
				Casey said, &ldquo;For weeks, the President has lied about his decisive defeat, promoting wild conspiracy theories about unsubstantiated fraud and encouraging this insurrection. But he didn&rsquo;t do it alone.&rdquo;
				Casey said Trump was &ldquo;aided and abetted every step of the way&rdquo; by a multitude of Republicans in both the House and Senate who, Casey said, after four years of enabling his authoritarian tendencies, &ldquo;sought to invalidate the will of the very people they serve.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;These members of Congress, along with President Trump, are responsible for this direct assault on our democracy and on our Nation&rsquo;s Capitol Building,&rdquo; Casey said. &ldquo;Their collective actions and words put lives at risk, and struck at the heart of our most fundamental democratic principles.&rdquo;
				Casey went on to say that Trump &ldquo;is a threat to our domestic and national security.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;It is self-evident that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. I call on Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and begin the process of removing the powers of the presidency from Donald Trump.&rdquo;
				The Associated Press reported Thursday that lawmakers in both parties and members of Trump&rsquo;s own administration were engaged in discussions on removing Trump from power following the insurrection in the Capitol by his supporters.
				The lawmakers and officials were discussing the efforts even though Trump has less than two weeks in office. AP reported that the talks began Wednesday afternoon as Trump first refused to forcefully condemn the violence and then excused the assault on the Capitol. Senior Trump administration officials began the discussions about the need to invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment &mdash; the forceful removal of Trump from power by his own Cabinet.
				According to the AP story, two people involved in the talks, staff-level discussions on the matter took place across multiple departments and even parts of the White House. No member of the Cabinet has publicly expressed support for the move &mdash; which would make Vice President Mike Pence the acting president &mdash; though several were believed to be sympathetic to the notion, believing Trump is too volatile in his waning days before President-elect Joe Biden&rsquo;s inauguration on Jan. 20.
				Under the 25th Amendment, Trump could dispute his Cabinet&rsquo;s finding, but the Cabinet could quickly reaffirm its position, keeping Pence in power while the question fell to lawmakers.

Casey calls on Pence to invoke 25th Amendment against Trump