House Democrats on Tuesday proposed creating a commission that would work with JD Vance to remove Donald Trump from office under the 25th amendment, should they determine he is no longer fit to serve.
The measure, introduced by Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, follows a series of statements from Trump, including his recent warning that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” if it did not capitulate to his demands, and a social media post that depicted him as Jesus Christ.
Democratic lawmakers and other opponents, including the former CIA director John Brennan, have seized on those comments to argue that the 79-year-old president is no longer competent to lead the country, and that the US vice-president should work with Trump’s cabinet to remove him.
“Public trust in Donald Trump’s ability to meet the duties of his office has dropped to unprecedented lows as he threatens to destroy entire civilizations, unleashes chaos in the Middle East while violating congressional war powers, aggressively insults the Pope of the Catholic Church and sends out artistic renderings online likening himself to Jesus Christ,” Raskin said in a statement.
“We are at a dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment to protect the American people from an increasingly volatile and unstable situation.”
Fifty other Democratic House lawmakers have co-sponsored the bill. It faces long odds in the Republican-controlled chamber, where some members have shown a willingness to oppose the president’s policies but none have expressed serious concerns about his fitness for office.
The constitution’s 25th amendment sets out how a vice-president can take over from a president who dies or resigns. It also outlines the process by which the vice-president and a majority of the cabinet can remove the president from office, if they determine the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the office.
Raskin noted that the vice-president may also make the determination in conjunction with an unspecified “body” that Congress authorizes. His measure would create the commission on presidential capacity to discharge the powers and duties of office, which would be composed of four retired executive branch office holders chosen by Congress’s Republican and Democratic leaders, which could include former presidents, vice-presidents, surgeon generals and certain cabinet secretaries.
Congress’s leaders would also select four physicians and four psychiatrists to serve on the body, whose members would choose a 17th person to act as their chair. None of the members could be current government employees or elected officials.
“This body should have been set up by Congress when the 25th Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1967. We have 535 Members of Congress but just one president and this body is a necessary element of successful continuity of government,” Raskin said.
Joe Biden faced similar calls in 2024, in the wake of his disastrous debate performance against Trump that intensified concerns about his age and led him to drop out of the presidential race. Several House Republicans filed resolutions calling for Kamala Harris, then the vice-president, to convene the cabinet to remove Biden from office, but none were ever voted on.
Trump defeated Harris in that year’s presidential election.
