Does the Vice President, then, have the power to call on the National Guard?

[question everything]

[MineralMan]

1. Apparently, under some circumstances, yes.

He did. The Guard showed up. Shortly thereafter, Congress went back into session and certified the electoral college vote.

[JohnSJ]

2. We were in a National emergency, the capital was under attack, and the president refused to

do his job, or was incapable of doing his job, so I would say yes

[brush]

3. The hearing last night revealed he did call them out...

as the president wouldn't because he wanted the attempted coup to succeed.

Pence came off well, despite his continuing failure to come out against trump and his J6 complicity.

[Haggard Celine]

4. He has that authority, it appears, when the President is incapacitated.

The heads of the military and the Speaker were looking to Pence to act because they considered the President to be somehow unable to do his job. They all knew that Trump was committing high crimes which made him unfit to govern. They almost invoked the 25th Amendment, but Pence didn't want to go that far. That was Pence's mistake.

[tanyev]

5. Yep.

That in itself is proof that Trump was attempting a coup and that people in leadership roles quickly realized that’s what was happening.

[crickets]

6. Well said.

Every time it's mentioned that Pence did the right thing in certifying the vote, it should be remembered that he faltered in not invoking the 25th amendment. He should have had the backbone to do it after tfg refused to accept his election loss and simply dropped the reins of office for hours while an insurgency raged unchecked.

[Fiendish Thingy]

11. VP only has that authority if the 25th was invoked, and it wasn't.

Funny how nobody in the GOP is squawking about that breach in the chain of command…

[sarisataka]

7. Strictly speaking- no

However DC being an unusual case, there maybe some authority in law he has over the National Guard of the District.

[question everything]

8. Thank you. This is what I wondered. And, I think, it was left to Milley's discretion

Would someone else, a Trumpist, followed?

[Silent3]

9. I'm pretty sure the rules got bent out of shear practical necessity

After all, there had been no formal declaration that Trump was incapacitated or otherwise incapable of doing his duties, and he hadn't formally be stripped of his powers.

But, as has been said before, "The Constitution is not a suicide pact", and I'm glad a few people decided to do what was right and worry about blowback, if any, for the technicalities later.

[Fiendish Thingy]

10. Technically not without invoking the 25th amendment, which wasn't done

But like Dick Cheney on 9/11, when the president was incapable or unwilling to act, Pence took matters into his own hands.

I’d like to see a Republican congress try and investigate that breach in the chain of command…

(I mean, I don’t want to see a Republican congress, but if we end up with one, I’d like to see them squirm over this question)

[question everything]

12. Thank you. It appears that all of us owe it to Milley who followed Pence request

He could have said: with all due respect, sir, you do not have the authority.