Speier demands Trump’s removal
Bay Area lawmaker calls to invoke 25th Amendment, saying president should be removed due to ‘erratic behavior’
A Bay Area congresswoman is calling for President Donald Trump to be removed from the presidency under a never-before-used constitutional provision.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, said on Tuesday that Trump should be removed from office with the 25th Amendment, following his latest comments blaming “many sides” for violence after white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Va.
“POTUS is showing signs of erratic behavior and mental instability that place the country in grave danger,” Speier tweeted Tuesday night. “Time to invoke the 25th Amendment.”
The 25th Amendment, which has
never been invoked, states that the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet can temporarily remove the president from office by declaring him or her “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office” in a letter to Congress. The vice president becomes the acting president.
If the president objects to his or her removal, the debate goes to Congress. A two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Congress is required to keep the president from returning to office.
But there’s been no sign — publicly, at least — that Vice President Mike Pence or the members of Trump’s Cabinet are considering taking action to remove him.
Speier is the first member of Congress to call for the use of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump. But after the president’s comments Tuesday, there were growing calls for him to be impeached. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisc., said Tuesday that Trump should be impeached, joining a handful of members of Congress who’ve done so.
In a combative press conference earlier in the day, Trump said, “I think there is blame on both sides” in the Virginia clash that left three people dead, and questioned the removal of statues of Confederate leaders, equating them with statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
Speier also quoted from Voltaire in a tweet: “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you