After teasing she would have news Friday about a 25th amendment-related move, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi followed through, announcing legislation that would give Congress authority to intervene under the constitutional provision and remove a president.
She insisted at a news conference at the Capitol that it isn’t about President Trump but is merely prompted by a need for more congressional oversight of the White House.
However, Pelosi has been questioning Trump’s mental fitness since he was diagnosed with COVID-19 and treated last weekend at Walter Reed hospital. She said Thursday that Trump was in “an altered state.”
“This is not about President Donald Trump — he will face the judgment of the voters,” Pelosi said Friday.
Trump fired back on Twitter, turning the tables and suggesting Pelosi’s real target is Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
“Crazy Nancy Pelosi is looking at the 25th Amendment in order to replace Joe Biden with Kamala Harris,” he wrote. “The Dems want that to happen fast because Sleepy Joe is out of it!!!”
The Democrats’ bill would set up a 17-member commission to assess the president’s ability to carry out the duties of the office and ensure continuity of government.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News it’s “an absurd proposal.”
Senate Majority Leader McConnell used the same language, calling it “absolutely absurd.”
The 25th Amendment was passed by Congress and ratified by the states in 1967 to help ensure continuity of power after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
It states that the vice president and a majority of the top officers of the executive departments “or of such other body as Congress” may declare to Congress that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” The vice president would immediately become acting president.
The House speaker is third in line.
“Let Congress exert the power the Constitution gave us,” Pelosi said Friday in front of a poster of the amendment.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who joined her, said that in “times of chaos we must hold fast to our Constitution.”
Pelosi said: “We would like to have it in place for future presidents. It’s not about the election at all. The timing is for now because people want to know based on a medical decision with the full involvement of the vice president of the United States.”
Crazy Nancy Pelosi is looking at the 25th Amendment in order to replace Joe Biden with Kamala Harris. The Dems want that to happen fast because Sleepy Joe is out of it!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2020
The only one who needs the 25th Amendment is Nancy Pelosi herself.
“Good Morning, Sunday Morning,” she bizarrely blurts out after suggesting impeaching President @realDonaldTrump for exercising his Art. II, Sec. II power!
Stop projecting, Nancy! ⬇️pic.twitter.com/QXBVhKqwLd
— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) October 9, 2020
The measure stands little chance of becoming law during this Congress because the Republican-majority Senate will ignore it.
The amendment’s use allegedly was discussed early in the Trump administration by several senior officials.
Judicial Watch has sued the government to gain access to documentation regarding claims that then-Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein offered to wear a wire to record his conversations with the president.
He later said he was joking.
