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Using the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump is a non-starter - Here’s why

The process is more complicated than impeachment, involving difficult hurdles and the opportunity for President Trump able to fight back.
Credit: NICHOLAS KAMM
President Donald Trump addresses a Congressional Medal of Honor Society reception at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 12, 2018. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP) (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON – With an afternoon New York Times push alert leaving a new round of Washington whiplash in its wake, conversation returned to talk of removing President Donald J. Trump via the 25th Amendment – a prospect more difficult to attain than impeachment.

The Times first reported Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein discussed removing the president through the 25th Amendment in 2017, suggesting the extreme measure in meetings with F.B.I. and Justice Department officials.

RELATED: Report: Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein discussed using 25th Amendment to remove Trump

The amendment allows a majority vote of the cabinet and approval from the vice president to strip the president of his power, declaring the commander in chief “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”

But the process is more complicated than impeachment – involving difficult hurdles and the opportunity for President Trump able to fight back.

Here is how the 25th Amendment is invoked, and why it would be highly unlikely to remove Trump in today’s political climate:

  • A majority of the members of the cabinet and the vice president must notify Congress that the president cannot perform the duties of the office.
  • There are 22 members of President Trump’s cabinet, in addition to Mike Pence.
  • Therefore, 12 cabinet members and the vice president would have to agree to strip presidential powers, before Trump caught wind of the situation and fired the disloyal appointees.

If the initial move succeeds, power is only temporarily transferred to the vice president. He then becomes “acting president.”

  • After the majority vote, the president can notify Congress that he is capable of performing the duties of the office.
  • He would return to power, unless the vice president and a majority of the cabinet tell Congress within four days that he is still unable to function as president.

If a showdown then exists, with the president versus his own cabinet and vice president, the House and Senate decide who will stay in power.

  • A 2/3 majority of both the House and Senate must vote to permanently strip the president of his powers, transferring them to the vice president.

A showdown like this has never happened before. A separate section of the amendment has only been used sparingly in the past, when presidents have undergone sedation or other medical procedures.

Once the procedures were complete, power was always transferred back to the president.

In a statement to the Times, Rosenstein denied the accounts outlined by reporters Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt.

“The New York Times’s story is inaccurate and factually incorrect,” Rosenstein wrote. “I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”

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