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Fifty Democratic lawmakers are supporting a new bill that would create a body with the power to remove a sitting president and the timing shows who they are targeting.
Democrats push new plan to remove Trump as White House hits back. (Bloomberg)Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin introduced the bill on Tuesday, pointing to concerns about Donald Trump and his recent actions. Raskin mentioned issues like threats to "wipe out" an entire civilization, actions in the Middle East, remarks about the Pope and online posts comparing Trump to Jesus Christ.
"Public trust in Donald Trump's ability to meet the duties of his office has dropped to unprecedented lows as he threatens to destroy entire civilizations, unleashes chaos in the Middle East while violating Congressional war powers, aggressively insults the Pope of the Catholic Church and sends out artistic renderings online likening himself to Jesus Christ," Raskin said in a press release.
What is the 25th Amendment and why does it matter?The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution already allows a president to be removed if they are unable to do their job. Under Section 4, the vice president and most of the Cabinet must send a written statement to Congress saying the president is unfit.
Democrats say the main issue is that Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s Cabinet are unlikely to take that step because they support him. When many Democrats recently called for the 25th Amendment to be used, nothing happened, according to Newsweek.
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What would Raskin's bill actually do?Raskin's bill proposes creating a permanent Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of Office. Under his proposal, the vice president would no longer need the full support of the Cabinet. Instead, the vice president would only need a majority vote from this newly formed commission to move forward with declaring the president unfit.
The commission would be put together by the top four congressional leaders, the Speaker of the House, the House Minority Leader, the Senate Majority Leader and the Senate Minority Leader. Each would select four retired officials to serve on the panel. Those officials could include former presidents, former vice presidents or former cabinet members.
In addition to the political figures, four physicians and four psychiatrists will also selected by congressional leaders and they would sit on the commission to assist with evaluating the president's capacity.
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Lawmakers backing the proposalRaskin has been careful to frame the bill as a structural reform rather than a direct attack on Trump, arguing that the commission should have been set up decades ago.
"This body should have been set up by Congress when the 25th Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1967," Raskin said in a press release. "We have 535 Members of Congress but just one President and this body is a necessary element of successful continuity of government. Congress should act now to establish a permanent and standing Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of Office."
The bill is backed by 50 Democratic lawmakers, including:
Gabe Amo, Becca Balint, Shontel M Brown, Andre Carson, Troy A Carter Sr, Judy Chu, Steve Cohen, J Luis Correa, Jasmine Crockett, Mark DeSaulnier, April McClain Delaney, Maxine Dexter, Debbie Dingell, Dwight Evans, Lizzie Fletcher, Sylvia R Garcia, Dan Goldman, Al Green, Jared Huffman, Glenn Ivey, Pramila Jayapal, Henry C “Hank” Johnson Jr, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Timothy M Kennedy, John B Larson, Ted W Lieu, Sam T Liccardo, Betty McCollum, Sarah McBride, James P McGovern, Christian Menefee, Kweisi Mfume, Seth Moulton, Kevin Mullin, Joe Neguse, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jimmy Panetta, Chellie Pingree, Emily Randall, Luz M Rivas, Deborah K Ross, Andrea Salinas, Mary Gay Scanlon, Lateefah Simon, Melanie A Stansbury, Shri Thanedar, Bennie G Thompson, Lauren Underwood, James Walkinshaw, Bonnie Watson Coleman.
White House responseThe White House strongly criticized the move. Davis Ingle told Newsweek that, “Lightweight Jamie Raskin is a stupid person’s idea of a smart person."
He added, “President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the last administration when Democrats like Raskin intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people."
Despite calls to invoke the 25th Amendment, no action has been taken and Trump continues to have strong support within his Cabinet.