By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s profanity-laced threats to wipe out Iran’s civilization have led some Democrats to discuss attempting to remove him from office by using the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Such an effort would be an uphill struggle, since doing so would require the support of Trump’s fellow Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress. Despite his falling overall public approval, some 82% of Republicans are happy with his presidency.
Trying to remove him from office could also hold political peril for Democrats – who twice tried and failed to remove Trump from office by impeaching him during his first term.
Here is a look at the amendment and the issues:
WHAT IS THE 25TH AMENDMENT?
The 25th Amendment was ratified in 1967. It was introduced after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and is intended to clarify the process of presidential succession, ensuring that the United States always has a functioning president and vice president.
The Constitution’s original presidential succession clause did not address vice presidential vacancies. Between President George Washington’s first term in 1789 and 1967, the vice presidency was vacant for more than 37 years cumulatively because of death, resignation, or succession to the presidency, according to the Congressional Research Service.
HAS THE 25TH AMENDMENT EVER BEEN INVOKED?
Presidents have invoked Section 3 of the amendment – dealing with circumstances in which the president is unable to discharge their responsibilities – when they knew they would be incapacitated due to medical procedures, such as in 2021, when then-President Joe Biden underwent a colonoscopy.
But Section 4, covering the involuntary removal of a president, has never been invoked. Section 4 allows the vice president and a majority of the president’s cabinet, or, alternatively, the vice president and a majority of another unspecified body designated by Congress, to declare a president unable to discharge the powers and duties of their office.
However, if the president contests that decision, Congress must assemble to decide the issue within 48 hours and two-thirds majorities of both the Senate and House of Representatives must agree that the president is incapable. If not, the president resumes their duties.
HAS THIS BEEN TRIED BEFORE?
Some Democrats, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, called for then-Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
But the calls came to nothing. Trump also was impeached twice by the Democratic-majority House, over charges he improperly withheld aid to Ukraine and over the Capitol riot, but there were too few Republican senators willing to back the charges to muster the two-thirds majority necessary to convict him either time.
Trump was elected to a second term in November 2024, winning 312 Electoral College votes to 226 for Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris.
Scott Anderson, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said an attempt to use the 25th Amendment would fail without a massive Republican defection, as it would need the approval of two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate.
“It’s a political no-go,” he said.
Trump’s Republicans hold slim majorities in both the Senate and House.
WHAT IS THE POLITICAL RISK?
House Democrats planned a members-only briefing on Friday on “Trump administration accountability” and the 25th Amendment.
But as they fight for control of the House and Senate in November’s midterms, Democratic lawmakers have been trying to focus on policy – such as promoting job growth, fighting inflation and broadening the availability of childcare – rather than presenting themselves mostly as the resistance to Trump.
“We are in the minority. So bringing forward impeachment right now, while he is guilty of a litany of high crimes and misdemeanors, I don’t think is the best use of our time,” Democratic Representative Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania told a news conference on Thursday.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, a close Trump ally, criticized Democrats over the issue in a statement on Friday. “Congressional Democrats have no message, no vision, and no leadership, and they are offering nothing to the American people except an irrational hatred of President Donald Trump,” Johnson said.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Michael Learmonth and Rosalba O’Brien)
