Warren on NYT Op-ed: Officials Should Invoke 25th Amendment, Remove Trump From Office If They Feel That Way

Lauretta Brown | September 07, 2018 8:00 AM

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) responded to the New York Times op-ed by an anonymous senior administration official by encouraging officials in the administration to invoke the 25th amendment and remove President Trump from office if they feel it is necessary.

The op-ed’s author, a self-described member of the resistance within the administration, wrote Wednesday that "given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over."

Sen. Warren said Thursday that Trump administration officials “should stop hiding behind anonymous op-eds,” and take action.

Let’s be clear: We already have a constitutional crisis if the cabinet believes the President of the United States can’t do his job and then refuses to follow the rules that have been laid down in the Constitution. They can’t have it both ways.
— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) September 6, 2018

This isn’t about politics – this is about the safety of our children, the national security of our nation, and the future of our democracy. Tell the cabinet: if Trump is unfit, invoke the 25th. https://t.co/Ser3UrbUaB
— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) September 6, 2018

"If senior administration officials think the President of the United States is not able to do his job, then they should invoke the 25th Amendment," Warren elaborated to CNN. "The Constitution provides for a procedure whenever the Vice President and senior officials think the President can't do his job.

"What kind of a crisis do we have if senior officials believe that the President can't do his job and then refuse to follow the rules that have been laid down in the Constitution?" she asked. "They can't have it both ways. Either they think that the President is not capable of doing his job in which case they follow the rules in the Constitution, or they feel that the President is capable of doing his job, in which case they follow what the President tells them to do."