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The tumultuous pictures coming from the US Capitol have forced the authorities and lawmakers of the US to ponder upon the impeachment of President Donald Trump prior to Joe Biden taking over as the next president. Violent and raucous scenes played out inside the Capitol Hill building on 7 January 2021 after it was stormed by a mob of Trump supporters.
What led to the chaos at Capitol?
Refusing to accept the results of the November 3 presidential election, a defiant Trump had many times asked his supporters to march towards the Capitol to protest the voter fraud.
Trump’s repeated calls culminated in the mayhem unleashed by his supporters on Wednesday at the Capitol Hill. As per news reports, hundreds and thousands of Trump supporters had engulfed the Capitol building, clashed with the police that even resulted in casualties.
Although, Trump went on to slam the incident and asked the rioters to ‘leave and go home’. In fact, representatives of both the Democrat and Republican squads condemned the episode.
What is the story of 25th Amendment?
As per the US Constitution, the 25th Amendment says that if the President, due to any reason, is unable to utilise his powers or perform his duties, the Vice President takes his seat and becomes the President.
According to this Amendment, the Vice President will perform all the duties that the President does until the latter is fully able to resume his duties or until the next Presidential election.
In the current scenario, it would be until President-elect Joe Biden assumes his duties in the House, which as of now is dated to be 20 January 2021.
John F Kennedy
Yes, it has been put into use before
The 25th Amendment came into play when President John F Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Since then, it has been used only thrice and the power was bestowed to the Vice Presidents only for short periods and due to medical reasons.
Will Trump be impeached or removed via 25th Amendment?
In order to bring the 25th Amendment into action, Vice President Mike Pence along with majority of Trump’s cabinet will have to accept and announce that Trump is incapable to perform the duties of that of a President and there is a need to remove or replace him. If this happens, Pence takes over.
Or else, if Trump declares that he is very much capable of resuming the job and if Pence and majority of the cabinet do not challenge him, Trump comes back into action and regains control. If they debate and dispute Trump’s opinion about himself, the issue would then be taken up by the Congress and in the meantime, Pence would be the acting president.
If Pence is not interested in invoking the amendment, Congress can then push to impeach Trump.
