Pence Team Responds to Anonymous Report He Would Support Removing Trump from Office: 'FAKE NEWS'
Vice President Mike Pence’s staff is battling back this week against an anonymous report claiming the Indiana Republican would support efforts to remove President Donald Trump from office.
The rumor began circulating Wednesday night when HuffPost reported the supposed high-ranking Trump administration official and “resistance” member known only as Anonymous has detailed in the upcoming book “A Warning” an attempt by the president’s Cabinet to remove him from office using the 25th Amendment.
Pence’s press secretary Katie Waldman was quick to dismiss the report, however, responding on Twitter within the hour.
“FAKE NEWS,” Waldman wrote.
FAKE NEWS. https://t.co/cOB5SXzIG5
— Katie Waldman (@VPPressSec) November 7, 2019
This is not the first time the shadowy administration official has captured the attention of the left-wing establishment media.
Anonymous first broke into the news cycle in September 2018, publishing a much-talked-about Op-Ed in The New York Times alleging the existence of a secret resistance growing within the administration to defend the American people against an “unhinged” president.
Now, according to HuffPost, the shadowy figure’s memoir — which is set to release Nov. 19 — claims a number of Cabinet-level advisers to the president conspired to cosign a letter to Congress invoking Section 4 of the 25th Amendment in light of FBI Director James Comey‘s firing.
The initiative apparently stalled before any such actions were carried out, but would have seen Trump declared “unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office” and replaced by the vice president.
Anonymous says he and fellow administration officials were confident Pence was on board — so long as a majority of the Cabinet voted in favor.
Personal differences between Pence, an evangelical conservative from the Midwest, and Trump, a billionaire New York playboy, have long lent themselves to similar reports of a rift between Trump and the Pence family.
Authors close to the pair have, however, unearthed a wealth of history running counter to such narratives, with reports this year detailing a number of major displays of loyalty and respect between the two since Pence first stepped aboard Trump’s presidential campaign on July 19, 2016.
According to Politico, Trump’s first and greatest regret in light of the “Access Hollywood” October surprise was that the recordings might disappoint the Pences or damage their upstanding reputation.
In the weeks leading up to the 2017 inauguration, Trump also reportedly ordered his team to secure Karen Pence a gown for the occasion — and on the inaugural committee’s dime due to financial struggles facing the Pence family.
Pence has, for his part, loyally defended the president throughout his first term, quick in recent weeks to publicly dismiss rumors he has drifted away from Trump in light of House impeachment proceedings related to the Ukraine scandal, The Hill reported.
As for “A Warning,” the Justice Department has warned its publisher, Hachette Book Group, that the book could breach “one or more nondisclosure agreements” the author would have signed before working in the White House, the Washington Examiner reported.
“If the author is, in fact, a current or former ‘senior official’ in the Trump Administration, publication of the book may violate that official’s legal obligations under one or more nondisclosure agreements, including nondisclosure agreements that are routinely required with respect to information obtained in the course of one’s official responsibilities or as a condition for access to classified information,” Assistant Attorney General Joseph H. Hunt wrote.
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