While President Donald Trump resides at Camp David, members of congress are calling for his removal from office, either by the 25th Amendment, impeachment, or both.
Aftermath of Coup Attempt
The call for removal comes after Trump’s role in the attack on the Capitol building. On Wednesday morning Trump held a rally where he told those in attendance, ”We’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue…and we’re going to the Capitol…we’re going to try and give our Republicans…the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.” This was after Rudy Giuliani called for a “trial by combat.”
The 25th Amendment
The 25th Amendment was created in response to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Passed in 1967, the amendment insures continuity of leadership in the event the President becomes disabled or dies.
If the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet declare the president unfit they can submit a letter to the speaker of the House and president pro tempore of the Senate to declare so, at which point the vice president becomes acting president. The president may respond with a letter of his own declaring he is fit to serve.
Should this happen and the vice president disagrees along with a majority of the Cabinet then another letter may be sent to Congress within four days. Congress would then vote on the matter and the president would assume charge unless both chambers of Congress agree by two-thirds majority that the president is unfit.
Congressional Support
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have issued a statement declaring that unless Vice President Pence and the Cabinet move to use the 25th Amendment the House will work to once again impeach Trump. Ilhan Omar began drafting articles of impeachment the night of the attack on the Capitol. A resolution could also be had to disallow Trump from ever running from office again. There is also nothing stipulating that both can’t be done, so Trump could be quickly removed from power by the amendment and then impeached by congress.
There are currently 2 articles of impeachment being passed around the House.
Thus far mostly Democrats have come out in favor of removing Trump from power, though Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois has joined. He posted a video message calling for the use of the 25th Amendment stating, “the President must now relinquish control of the executive branch voluntarily or involuntarily.”
Democratic Senator Patty Murray said, “The most immediate way to ensure the President is prevented from causing further harm in coming days is to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office. As history watches, I urge Vice President Pence and the President’s Cabinet to put country before party and act.”
House Oversight Committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York said, “Invoking the 25th Amendment is the quickest way to do this, and expedience must be our goal,” before adding, “If the Vice President and Cabinet fail to act, we have a duty to pursue impeachment.”
Opposition and Trump's Latest Message
Senator Lindsay Graham says he does not support invoking the 25th Amendment at the moment but “if something else happens, all options would be on the table.” It’s hard to imagine what, if anything, would need to happen to convince Graham and similar congressional members after insurgents stormed the Capitol.
On Thursday night Trump released a video on Twitter, his first since being reinstated after a suspension. In it he condemns the insurgents and claims to be cooperative with a peaceful transition of power. It is unclear what effect, if any, this will have on calls from congress to remove him from office.
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