The alleged plot within the Trump administration would have considered invoking the 25th amendment of the United States Constitution

Since the publication of the anonymous editorial in The New York Times this September 5, which suggested that a group of officials in top positions in the Trump cabinet distrusted his impulses, and actively sabotaged the "most mistaken," the president and his Acolytes have entered IGNORE INTO crisis. The search for a culprit is what most afflicts Trump, and the deputy prosecutor of the United States is the most recent candidate.

Leer en español: Así funciona la enmienda que podría destituir a Donald Trump

Rod Rosenstein, who has served as deputy prosecutor since 2017, and who previously was the attorney-general of the District of Maryland, was accused by The New York Times of having conversations with his colleagues in which he suggests secretly recording Donald Trump in order to expose some of his most controversial behaviors.

But, mainly, Rosenstein was accused to discuss the probability of invoking the 25th amendment of the Constitution of the United States, something that would unleash a complicated process to depose to the president Trump without resorting to the mechanism of "impeachment".

How does the 25th amendment of the Constitution work?

This amendment was adopted in 1967 but was introduced years before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, when theCongresss panicked when it saw that the constitution in its current form did not fully contemplate the mechanisms of succession between the president and vice president.

But, more importantly, the Constitution did not contemplate what would happen to the president and his position if he were to be left in a semi-conscious state or with a disability that limited his capacity to hold office.

Section four of the 25th amendment deals with the latter problem. It establishes that, by means of a decision of the vice president, endorsed by a majority within the congress or within the rest of the executive branch, it can depose the president of all his powers and his office and assume it himself. This in case it is considered that the president demonstrates incapacity or ineptitude when performing his position.

You can also read: In midst of criticism and betrayal, the Trump era collapses

Another parallel between Trump and Reagan

If Rosenstein actually discussed the possibility of activating this amendment, an accusation that he categorically denies, arguing that "there are no foundations to invoke the twenty-fifth amendment", it would not be the first time something like this happens.

During the presidency of Ronald Reagan, there was not one, but two occasions in which there was the talk of activating section four of the 25th amendment of the Constitution.

The first time was after the assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981 when it was argued that Vice President George HW Bush should have activated this section of the amendment to assume control of the state while the president was in surgery and his life in danger, something that was impossible. This is because at that time he was flying to Washington D.C.

Section four was mentioned for the second time in 1987, when in a case similar to the one tormenting the Trump presidency, the new chief of staff at the White House, Howard H. Baker Jr., was told that he would have to contemplate its activation. Baker's team received warnings from the team of the former chief of staff, Don Regan, that President Reagan was "inattentive," "inept," and "lazy," according to accounts documented by PBS.

In neither case was it terminated by invoking section four, and to date, it is the only section of the 25th amendment of the United States Constitution that has not seen use.

LatinAmerican Post | Pedro Bernal

Translated from "Así funciona la enmienda que podría destituir a Donald Trump"

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