Mnuchin Briefly Discussed 25th Amendment to Remove Trump, Jan. 6 Transcript Shows

[brooklynite]

Source: Bloomberg

Outgoing Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo briefly discussed removing President Donald Trump through the 25th Amendment after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack but rejected the idea, according to a transcript of Mnuchin’s testimony.

“It came up very briefly in our conversation,” Mnuchin told the committee in a transcript released Tuesday. “We both believed that the best outcome was a normal transition of power, which was working, and neither one of us contemplated in any serious format the 25th Amendment.”

Mnuchin said he looked up the amendment on Google “out of curiosity,” but when his general counsel asked if he wanted him to research it, Mnuchin said, “No, not at this point.”

Mike Pence would have had to invoke the amendment, which allows for the vice president to assume the powers of the presidency if the president were unable to perform his duties. It was ratified in 1967 and invoked, for example, when Richard Nixon resigned. Pence never approved the use of it in Trump’s case.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-27/mnuchin-said-he-briefly-discussed-25th-amendment-with-pompeo?leadSource=uverify%20wall

[ColinC]

1. What do you think it feels like to have a spine made of rubber?

[SoCalDavidS]

2. Fucking Cowards

They all "briefly discussed."

What a crock of shit.

Can't wait for when DOJ comes out with a statement that they "briefly discussed" indicting Teflon Man.

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. And yet, Pence circumvented the chain of command anyway

And ordered the deployment of the national guard.

And nobody, not the media, not the J6 committee, nobody is talking about that.

The military followed orders from someone who was not the CIC.

That’s a BFD.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. "It was ratified in 1967 and invoked, for example, when Richard Nixon resigned."

Bloomberg went drastic with that because use of the 25th doesn't have to wait for something as dramatic (and the article neglected to mention it). It often gets invoked when a President goes under general anesthesia for some medical procedure.

In the past -

The 25th Amendment has been used 3 times to relieve presidents deemed unfit to govern — each case involving physical health

Michal Kranz
Oct 12, 2017, 4:07 PM


President Donald Trump's inner circle is said to be facing fears that the biggest threat to his presidency is not impeachment, but rather his cabinet using the 25th Amendment to declare him "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."

The amendment has been invoked in this way only three times before, and coincidentally, each time has involved presidential colons.

The 25th Amendment of the Constitution was passed in 1967 after fears about presidential succession after President John F. Kennedy's assassination. The first two sections deal with presidents and vice presidents resigning, dying, or being generally removed from office, and these sections were invoked in order to elevate Gerald R. Ford to the presidency after Richard Nixon resigned in 1974.

The second two sections of the amendment deal specifically with what to do with a president who is unfit to serve, and it is these sections Trump has to worry about. If he is removed under these sections, he would be joining a small list of presidents who all had their powers temporarily removed due to doctors operating on their colons.

(snip)

https://www.businessinsider.com/25th-amendment-colon-trump-reagan-bush-unfit-president-2017-10

However as an update to the above, Biden had it invoked just last year -

Invoking the 25th Amendment should be as routine as a colonoscopy
Section 3, the voluntary provision, is intended to prevent even short gaps in leadership — and avoid the dreaded Section 4

Perspective by John D. Feerick and John Rogan
November 21, 2021 at 3:33 p.m. EST


Vice President Harris was spared from having to confront any crises that demanded immediate attention during her brief but historic tenure as acting president on Friday morning. Still, President Biden was right to formally transfer his powers and duties to her under the 25th Amendment, even if it was for just 85 minutes so he could undergo a routine colonoscopy with anesthesia.

Some presidents have hesitated to make that decision, given the serious implications. But the 25th Amendment should not be reserved for exceptional circumstances. Invoking it should be as routine as having a colonoscopy.

The purpose of the 25th Amendment’s inability provisions is to prevent gaps in presidential leadership. For the amendment to work as intended, the president and other officials need to plan for its uses and invoke it whenever it is appropriate. That includes normalizing use of the amendment by routinely transferring powers and duties for even short inabilities, such as when the president is unconscious for medical procedures such as the one Biden underwent.

Biden used Section 3 of the 25th Amendment, which lets the president voluntarily transfer his powers and duties to the vice president. It’s different from the amendment provision that has received the most public attention in recent years: Section 4’s involuntary transfer process, which allows the vice president and majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unable to discharge his duties.

(snip)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/11/21/25th-amendment-colonoscopy-president-biden/

No paywall

[Botany]

5. "They" the members of the White House Cabinet could have done the right thing but in the end ....

.... choose not to because the attempted violent overthrow of America's democracy led by
Donald Trump wasn't that big of a thing.

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo had a big case of "the I don't remembers" in front of the
J-6 Committee too and Mnuchin's just looked up the amendment on Google “out of curiosity.”

[Turbineguy]

6. Then Pence would have pardoned trump.

[mercuryblues]

7. I call BS on them thinking a natural transfer of power would be better

They thought about and realized trump had too much shit on them and he would turn on them.

There is nothing moral about any of them. They were simply covering their asses.