Warren calls for 25th Amendment to be invoked against Trump

[Swordsmyth]

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Thursday she believes it’s time for White House officials to invoke the 25th Amendment and begin the process of removing President Trump from office.
The comments come one day after a blistering op-ed published in The New York Times by an anonymous senior administration official that blasted Trump as amoral and “anti-democratic” and said staffers must constantly rebut the president’s “misguided impulses” and “worst inclinations.”

"If senior administration officials think the president of the United States is not able to do his job, then they should invoke the 25th Amendment," Warren told CNN.
"The Constitution provides for a procedure whenever the vice president and senior officials think the president can't do his job. It does not provide that senior officials go around the president — take documents off his desk, write anonymous op-eds. ... Every one of these officials have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. It's time for them to do their job,” she added.

More at: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4...-against-trump

[pcosmar]

On what grounds? (other than derangement syndrome)

[Swordsmyth]

On what grounds? (other than derangement syndrome)

None.

[Anti Globalist]

Would have like to see the 25th Amendment be invoked on certain presidents in the past.

[Grandmastersexsay]

Good. Calling for it now, without a decent fabricated reason, makes them look ridiculous to the average American. It helps Trump and the GOP for the 2018 elections. Keep it coming.

[Zippyjuan]

Just so people have an idea of what this would mean and what needs to happen, here is what the Constitution says: https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxxv

Section 3.

Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Section 4.

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

(the first two sections cover the lines of succession if a President is no longer in office for whatever reason- death, impeachment, etc)

The Executive Departments: https://www.usa.gov/executive-departments

You need the Vice President plus the heads of at least eight of these departments at minimum to start a 25th Amendment removal of a president:

Executive Departments

The 15 executive departments are the primary units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. Learn more about the Executive Branch on the Branches of Government page.

U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Commerce
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Labor
U.S. Department of State
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Department of the Treasury
U.S. Department of Transportation
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

If the President says "I am OK" then you need two thirds vote in BOTH HOUSES of Congress to concur. Even if Dems take both in the fall, no way they have two thirds of either of them.

Odds are pretty much zero of this happening.

[Bern]

Good, informative post Zippy. Thanks.

[Aratus]

On what grounds? (other than derangement syndrome)

My POTUS and MY Senator may both be crazy like a fox.
If the 25th puts our putz of a POTUS in Saint Elizabeth's
As in JAMES FORRESTAL's auld room that he leaped or...
wuz THRONE frum... PENCE = PRESIDENT, a.s.a.p!!!!!


I predict an easy romp win like this starts up an impeachment.
Problem is, although Pence is a rabid foaming at the mouth lil
ole fundie, he seems to be wearing a better deodorant than his
boss. He is more stable. More dignified. Less net addicted...too.

[Swordsmyth]

My POTUS and MY Senator may both be crazy like a fox.
If the 25th puts our putz of a POTUS in Saint Elizabeth's
As in JAMES FORRESTAL's auld room that he leaped or...
wuz THRONE frum... PENCE = PRESIDENT, a.s.a.p!!!!!


I predict an easy romp win like this starts up an impeachment.
Problem is, although Pence is a rabid foaming at the mouth lil
ole fundie, he seems to be wearing a better deodorant than his
boss. He is more stable. More dignified. Less net addicted...too.

He said other than TDS.

[Aratus]

The SOVIET definition of insanity puts opponents in asylums even when 100% sane & stable.

[pcosmar]

The SOVIET definition of insanity puts opponents in asylums even when 100% sane & stable.

So does the US.

[specsaregood]

If the President says "I am OK" then you need two thirds vote in BOTH HOUSES of Congress to concur. Even if Dems take both in the fall, no way they have two thirds of either of them.

But it says they have 21 days to decide, even longer if they are not in session. And all that time the VP would still be in charge.
How many wars could those $#@!ers start in 21 days?

Odds are pretty much zero of this happening.

Maybe so, but I'd take to see his odds if some type of large scale terrorist attack or war struck the US during those 21 days, with the media and the people in power laying the blame at Trumps feet. just saying....

[Brian4Liberty]

This was the purpose of the NYT anonymous Op-Ed.

[EBounding]

She kind of has a point. If Trump is so deranged and unstable, people in the administration should testify publicly to get him out of office.

But the fact they're not shows they're not all that worried about him; they just don't like what he's doing but they still want a job.

[oyarde]

Nobody cares what warren or the dept of agriculture head says . Only douchebags voted for her .

[Aratus]

Let's say TRUMP is in perfect health, today. Has no illness or problem,
even if he can be a blithering jackass short of getting his sorry self down
the road most totally impeached in the most political way. If a year from
now, he becomes gravely ill and PENCE has to step in and function like
a president, rather than having a situation like with Woodrow Wilson and
THE incapacitating stroke that immobilized one half of his face and body
severely, it makes more sense for a totally healthy VEEP to be sworn in.
Nothing immediate mentally or physically in Trump's behavior today says
that the 25th Amendment has to be dusted off in the next 48 hours. It is
there because it has to be. She is bringing a focus on a much more complex
situation, she is not being petty or foolish or stupid. If he has a staff who
can cover up his health issues, they actually can become the cabal that the
LODESTAR essay writer claims to be part of. Next move is aByzantine pillow.
The pillow when applied is not likely to be in the not so loving hands of a Bushite
or a Democrat, or his long suffering wife or mistress...instead it's an ambitious...................person.

[Swordsmyth]

Raskin first introduced his measure in April 2017 to address a little-noticed lapse by Congress in fully implementing the 25 Amendment. The amendment, ratified in 1967 to address questions of presidential succession, created new mechanisms to force the removal of a president on medical or psychiatric grounds. It is a completely separate process from impeachment of the president for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Under the 25th Amendment, if a majority of the Cabinet, along with the vice president, were to conclude in writing that the president is physically or mentally “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” he or she can be removed and replaced by the vice president. Were the president to challenge such a designation, Congress could still uphold the removal if two-thirds of both the House and Senate vote to do so.


But Raskin, a former constitutional law professor who is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, noticed that, in additional to empowering a majority of the Cabinet to make the initial designation of incapacity, the 25th Amendment authorizes “such other body as Congress may by law provide” to do so. Yet in the 51 years since the 25th Amendment took effect, Congress has never set up such a body.
Raskin’s bill would fill the void by creating an “Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity.” It would be a nonpartisan panel appointed by congressional leaders composed of four physicians, four psychiatrists and three others, such as former presidents or vice presidents, or other former senior U.S. officials. If directed by Congress through a concurrent resolution, the commission would even be empowered to medically examine the president “to determine whether the president is incapacitated, either mentally or physically.”

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrat-...112014806.html

[eleganz]

On what grounds?

On grounds that it will boost her fundraising and anti-Trump profile for 2020.

[timosman]

On grounds that it will boost her fundraising and anti-Trump profile for 2020.

Even capturing the majority of double digit IQ people might not be sufficient to win an election.