Will administration officials invoke 25th Amendment to remove Trump?

Perhaps the biggest question following the storming of the U.S. Capitol is whether President Donald Trump will be removed from office.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Thursday morning for the Cabinet to use the 25th Amendment to begin the process to remove Trump from office.

Such a move could take several days — at least — and Trump has 13 days left in his term.

At least two news outlets reported earlier that members of Trump’s Cabinet were considering moving to invoke the amendment to remove the 45th president from office after the he and others incited supporters to storm the Capitol, forcing lawmakers and others to flee.

Capitol Police questions

Another question that arose shortly after the mob overtook the Capitol with seeming ease was the apparent slow reaction and lack of preparation by law enforcement.

U.S. Capitol Police, who are charged with protecting Congress, turned to other law enforcement after a mob of Trump supporters overran the complex and sent lawmakers into hiding. Both law enforcement and Trump supporters deployed chemical irritants during the hourslong occupation of the complex before it was cleared Wednesday evening.

Four people died, one of them a woman who was shot and killed by police inside the Capitol. Three other people died after suffering “medical emergencies” related to the breach, according to Robert Contee, chief of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department.

Police said 52 people had been arrested as of Wednesday night, including 26 on the Capitol grounds. Fourteen police officers were injured, Contee said.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., chairwoman of the House Administration Committee, said the breach “raises grave security concerns,″ adding that her committee will work with House and Senate leaders to review the police response — and its preparedness.

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, suggested there could be leadership changes at the Capitol police.

“I think it’s pretty clear that there’s going to be a number of people who are going to be without employment very, very soon because this is an embarrassment both on behalf of the mob, and the president, and the insurrection and the attempted coup, but also the lack of professional planning and dealing with what we knew was going to occur,” Ryan said.

Following the storming of the building, Terrance Gainer, former chief of the Capitol Police, told CNN, “We failed. We did not secure the Capitol and people need to be held responsible and explain what went on.”

Speaking on CNN’s New Day on Thursday, Gainer said police were “outnumbered.” They “underestimated their strength” and “overestimated their ability to control the crowd,” he said.

Attempted coup

What happened Wednesday was nothing less than an attempted coup, said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., a frequent Trump critic, told the Associated Press, “Today, the United States Capitol — the world’s greatest symbol of self-government — was ransacked while the leader of the free world cowered behind his keyboard.”

Sasse went on: “Lies have consequences. This violence was the inevitable and ugly outcome of the president’s addiction to constantly stoking division.”

The Washington Post and CNN both reported Thursday that several senior White House aides were discussing use of the 25th Amendment to remove the president and put Vice President Mike Pence in charge, despite Trump having only 13 days remaining in his term.

25th never triggered

In the more than 50 years since the Constitution was amended to create a way to remove a president unable to do his job, the process has never been triggered.

The amendment allows “the vice president and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress” to submit a written declaration that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. In such an event, it says, “The vice president shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as acting president.”

If the president contests the finding, and the vice president and Cabinet persist, the process moves to a vote of both houses of Congress, requiring a two-thirds majority in both houses to unseat the nation’s leader.

A major business leader and others urged the use of the amendment to remove the president.

The head of the National Association of Manufacturers said Trump incited the violence in an effort to retain power, and Pence should consider triggering the amendment to preserve democracy.

“This is sedition and should be treated as such,” said Jay Timmons, the group’s president and CEO.

He was joined by a chorus of calls that included the head of the left-leaning advocacy group Public Citizen, the head of the NAACP and Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican.

Resignations

Trump’s former acting White House chief of staff resigned his post as special envoy to Northern Ireland on Thursday, saying “I can’t do it. I can’t stay.”

Mick Mulvaney joined a growing list of Trump administration officials who are leaving following the violence at the Capitol.

Mulvaney said he called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Wednesday night to tell him that he was resigning. He served as acting White House chief of staff from January 2019 until March 2020. Before that, he was director of the Office of Management and Budget.

“I can’t do it. I can’t stay,” Mick Mulvaney told CNBC, which was first to report the resignation. “Those who choose to stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they’re worried the president might put someone worse in.”

Matthew Pottinger, a national security adviser, has also resigned along with Stephanie Grisham, chief of staff for Melania Trump.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas in Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.