What Is the 25th Amendment? Why some Democrats are calling for Trump’s removal
A demonstrator holds a sign calling for the 25th Amendment to remove US President Donald Trump from office during a protest outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on January 7, 2021 a day after pro-Trump mob stormed and trashed the Capitol
Some Democrats are calling for President Donald Trump’s removal from office under the 25th Amendment, citing what they describe as erratic behavior tied to his push to take control of Greenland.
What they're saying:
According to FOX News, Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., asserted Monday in a post on X that President Donald Trump is "mentally ill" and should be "immediately" removed from office via the 25th Amendment.
"The president of the United States is extremely mentally ill and it’s putting all of our lives at risk. The 25th Amendment exists for a reason — we need to invoke it immediately," she declared in the post.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., have also both called for the invocation of the 25th Amendment against Trump in light of the president's message.
Trump says he won't use force to acquire Greenland
While speaking at the at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, President Trump said he won’t use force to acquire Greenland.
The backstory:
The calls come in response to a reported message sent by Trump to Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
"Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America," Trump reportedly wrote, according to a transcript of the text message first reported by PBS.
"Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?" he continued, referring to Greenland. "There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you!" Trump reportedly added.
In response, Støre reportedly wrote, "Dear Mr President, dear Donald — on the contact across the Atlantic — on Greenland, Gaza, Ukraine — and your tariff announcement yesterday. You know our position on these issues. But we believe we all should work to take this down and de-escalate — so much is happening around us where we need to stand together. We are proposing a call with you later today — with both of us or separately — give us a hint of what you prefer!"
What is the 25th Amendment?
Dig deeper:
The 25th Amendment is the constitutional provision that deals with the transfer of presidential power, either temporarily or permanently.
The amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
President Lyndon B. Johnson in his 1965 State of the Union promised to "propose laws to insure the necessary continuity of leadership should the President become disabled or die." The amendment was passed by Congress that year and ultimately ratified in 1967.
Here's how the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution works
It was created to clarify the rules for replacing a deceased or incapacitated president, ultimately ratified in 1967.
To temporarily transfer power to the vice president, a president sends a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and President pro tempore of the Senate that they are "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."
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The vice president then becomes acting president. When the president is ready to resume authority, the president sends another letter — which is spelled out in the amendment’s Section 3.
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Section 4 of the amendment lays out what happens if the president becomes unable to carry out their duties but doesn’t transfer power. In that case, the vice president and majority of the Cabinet can declare the president unfit. They would then send a letter to the Speaker and President Pro Tempore saying so. The vice president then becomes acting president.
If the president ultimately becomes ready to resume their duties, the president can send a letter saying so. But if the vice president and majority of the Cabinet disagree, they can send a letter to Congress within four days. Congress would then have to vote. The president resumes their duties unless both houses of Congress by a two-thirds vote say he or she is not ready. That section has never been invoked.
Has it ever been invoked?
Presidents have temporarily relinquished power — but not all invoked the 25th Amendment. Previous transfers of power have generally been brief and happened when the president was undergoing a medical procedure.
In 2002, President George W. Bush became the first to use the amendment’s Section 3 to temporarily transfer power, to Vice President Dick Cheney while Bush was anesthetized for a colonoscopy. Bush temporarily transferred power in 2007 to undergo another colonoscopy.
When President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981, his administration prepared — but did not sign — the letters necessary to invoke the 25th Amendment, according to the Reagan Library and Museum.
But Reagan did temporarily transfer power to Vice President George H. W. Bush while undergoing surgery to remove a polyp from his colon in 1985, but he said at the time he wasn’t formally invoking the 25th Amendment.
While he said he was "mindful" of it, he didn’t believe "that the drafters of this Amendment intended its application to situations such as the instant one." Bush was acting president for eight hours according to a book on the amendment by John D. Feerick.
Previous attempts to use the 25th ammendment to remove Trump
Timeline:
In October 2020, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Democrats planned to discuss the 25th Amendment after President Donald Trump contracted COVID-19, just weeks before the Nov. 3 election.
In an October press conference, Pelosi said the president needed to disclose more about his health after his diagnosis — including when he first contracted the virus as others in the White House became infected.
After Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis, Pelosi chose not to invoke the 25th Amendment, which details how presidential power can be transferred in the event a president is unable to do the job.
In January 2021, the issue surfaced again after protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results.
Most Democrats, and many Republicans, put the blame squarely on Trump after hundreds of protesters bearing Trump flags and clothing broke into the Capitol and caused destruction and mass evacuations. The president had urged his supporters to protest as Congress was counting the electoral votes that confirmed Joe Biden’s win.
Biden distanced himself from his fellow Democrats’ push to oust Trump with the 25th Amendment.
The Source: The Associated Press contributed to this report. Information in this story is drawn from FOX News reporting, including public statements and social media posts by Democratic lawmakers, as well as a transcript of a reported message from President Donald Trump to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre that was first reported by PBS. Background information on the 25th Amendment comes from the U.S. Constitution and historical records surrounding its passage and prior uses, including past presidential transfers of power. This story was reported from Los Angeles.