President Donald Trump’s actions, seemingly at any cost, have sparked calls for his removal from office.
When asked how far he would go to obtain territory belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark, Trump told reporters on Tuesday: “You’ll find out.” This foreboding reply came after weeks of the White House declining to rule out using military force to annex the island. Over the weekend, Trump escalated matters by threatening to tariff until Denmark sells Greenland to the U.S. He is scheduled to meet with leaders of some of those countries at Davos.
Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon—one of the Republicans who has condemned Trump’s Greenland efforts—stated he would “lean” toward impeachment if the U.S. invaded the territory.
“I don’t want to give a firm yes or no, but I would lean that way. Invading an ally would be a complete mistake. It would be catastrophic for our allies and everything else. In my view, it’s the worst idea imaginable,” Bacon told the Omaha World-Herald.
Other critics have proposed alternative methods to remove Trump from office.
In a letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Trump reportedly linked his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize to his attempts to acquire Greenland. He is quoted as saying he “no longer feel[s] an obligation to think purely of peace.” In reaction to these reports, a Democratic senator called for Trump to be removed from his Commander-in-Chief role via the 25th Amendment.
“Invoke the 25th Amendment,” stated of Massachusetts. Arizona Democratic Rep. of Arizona echoed this view, asserting: “The 25th Amendment was created for a reason—we need to invoke it right away.”
Following a flurry of late-night social media posts from Trump on Monday—during which he claimed there was “” regarding Greenland—other lawmakers expressed concerns.
California Democratic Rep. of California commented on the President: “He’s putting every American’s safety at risk. Invoke the 25th.”
This isn’t the first time the 25th Amendment has been linked to Trump. In a 2018 anonymous, a “senior official in the Trump Administration” said there “were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment” during Trump’s first term. (Miles Taylor, the former chief of staff in the Department of Homeland Security, later claimed ownership of the op-ed.)
As calls to invoke the 25th Amendment grow again, here’s what you need to know about the U.S. legislation.
What is the 25th Amendment?
The 25th Amendment guarantees that “the United States will always have a working President and Vice President” and that in the event of the President’s removal from office, it “provides for the prompt, orderly, and democratic transfer of executive power,” according to the .
following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and ratified by Congress in 1967 to establish a constitutional procedure to transfer Presidential powers.
The law is implemented across a number of scenarios, including if the President dies or resigns while in office under Section 1 or the President themselves withdraws from the position, which can be temporarily, under Section 3.
If it is decided that the President is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” Section 4 of the Amendment can be used. In such scenarios, the Vice President will take up the position of President.
Currently, lawmakers are calling for the Amendment to be applied within Section 4, with many Democrats expressing the opinion that Trump is unfit for office and should be discharged.
When was the last time the 25th Amendment was invoked?
Section 3 of the Amendment, which gives the President the ability to transfer power to the Vice President, has been used, most recently by President Joe Biden when he was anesthetized for a routine medical procedure.
The same scenario during George W. Bush’s Presidency, in 2002 and 2007, for medical reasons. These transfers of power to the Vice President have typically only lasted a few hours each time.
Section 4, in which the Vice President and the majority of the 15-member cabinet can vote to discharge the President, .
Can the 25th Amendment be used to remove Trump from office?
In order for the 25th Amendment to be implemented, there first must be concerns regarding one’s ability to perform their duties as President.
Per Section 4, this could come in the form of serious health issues, which previously as an argument to remove Biden from office.
For Section 4 to be carried out, the Vice President and a majority of the 15-member Cabinet must declare the President unable to perform their duties. But the threshold for this scenario is “incredibly high” says Nicholas Cole, a senior research fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford University.
As of the Amendment’s ratification in 1967: Under the amendment, an incapacitated Chief Executive can himself declare in writing that he is unable to continue in office, and the Vice President can take over—at least temporarily. If an ailing President is unable or unwilling to step aside voluntarily, the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet can send a written statement to Congress declaring that the President is incapable of holding office. If the President were to challenge such a resolution, Congress itself would vote on the question. The amendment also authorizes the President to appoint, and Congress to confirm, a new Vice President if a vacancy occurs in that office.
“This idea that the Vice President and the President’s own cabinet are going to take the view that a set of policy decisions indicate that the President has [some kind of] incapacity is a case I can’t see,” says Cole.
He adds that should lawmakers, Republicans or Democrats, be unsatisfied with the President’s ability to perform his duties, then impeachment is a far more suitable avenue to pursue.
In the unlikely scenario that the Vice President did issue such an order with a Cabinet majority, they would assume the President’s role, informing Congress of the decision. Trump would then likely immediately contest the decision, and Congress would hold a vote, Cole says.
“It would take a two thirds vote of the Congress to side with the Vice President. So that threshold is the same as for impeachment. If you think you’ve got the votes to do that, you go for impeachment,” he says.
