WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled legislation Friday that would allow Congress to intervene under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove the president, insisting it’s not about President Donald Trump.
“This is not about President Trump. He will face the judgment of the voters. But he shows the need for us to create a process for future presidents,” said Pelosi.
Just weeks before the Nov. 3 election, Pelosi said Trump needs to disclose more about his health after his COVID-19 diagnosis. She noted Trump’s “strange tweet” halting talks on a new coronavirus aid package and said Americans need to know when, exactly, he first contracted COVID-19 as others in the White House became infected.
“The public needs to know the health condition of the president,” Pelosi said, invoking the 25th Amendment, which allows a president’s Cabinet or Congress to intervene when a president is unable to conduct the duties of the office.
Trump responded swiftly via Twitter.
“Crazy Nancy is the one who should be under observation. They don’t call her Crazy for nothing!” the president said.
Trump says he “feels great” after being hospitalized and is back at work in the White House and plans to resume campaigning soon. White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said in a Thursday memo that Saturday marks 10 days after the president’s coronavirus diagnosis, and that he fully anticipates “the President’s safe return to public engagement at that time.” Conley noted the president “responded extremely well to treatment,” without adverse therapeutic effects.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that he had stopped going to the White House two months ago because he disagreed with its coronavirus protocols. His last visit was Aug. 6.
“My impression was their approach to how to handle this was different from mine and what I insisted we do in the Senate, which is to wear a mask and practice social distancing,” McConnell said at a campaign stop in northern Kentucky for his own reelection.
On Friday, Pelosi along Raskin, a constitutional law professor, introduced the legislation that would create a commission as outlined under the 25th Amendment, which was passed by Congress and ratified in 1967 as a way to ensure a continuity of power in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
It says the vice president and a majority of principal officers of the executive departments “or of such other body as Congress” may by law provide a declaration to Congress that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” At that point, the vice president would immediately assume the powers of acting president.