Business Insider – Members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet are in the early stages of considering the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office, multiple media outlets reported, a move that would be unlike any other since the amendment was ratified six decades ago.
CNN’s Jim Acosta reported that cabinet secretaries are in the preliminary stages of discussions, and CBS News’ Margaret Brennan reported that nothing concrete has been presented to Vice President Mike Pence yet.
ABC News also confirmed the reports, all of which were anonymously sourced.
The extraordinary development comes after Trump supporters, whipped into a frenzy by the president’s conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, converged on Washington, DC and stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday as Congress convened to count up the electoral votes and finalize President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
The process is typically pro forma and doesn’t draw much national attention.
But it came into the national spotlight this year because the president and his supporters baselessly said that Congress and, in particular, Vice President Mike Pence, have the legal authority to throw out electoral votes from states where Trump said the election was “rigged” against him.
Congress and the vice president have no such authority and are only tasked with counting up the Electoral College votes cast certifying the results of the general election.
Lawmakers can object to the votes, but for an objection to stand it must be upheld by both the House and Senate.
Because the Democratic Party controls the House, there is virtually no chance that Republicans who have signed onto Trump’s push to overturn the election will succeed. Pence, for his part, plays no role in approving or rejecting a state’s electoral votes and his involvement in the matter is largely ceremonial.
Regardless, Trump has repeatedly claimed that Pence and congressional Republicans are obligated to “decertify” the electoral votes from battleground states he lost …
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FULL TEXT OF 25TH AMENDMENT:
Presidential Disability and Succession
Passed by Congress July 6, 1965. Ratified February 10, 1967. The 25th Amendment changed a portion of Article II, Section 1
Section 1
In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section 2
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
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.