Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump's Fitness Questioned; 25th Amendment Floated After Riot
There have been discussions among some members of the Trump Cabinet and allies of President Donald Trump about the 25th Amendment, which would be a vehicle for members of the cabinet to remove Trump from office, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the discussions tell ABC News. It is unclear how extensive these conversations have been or if Vice President Mike Pence is supportive of such action. Many have been horrified by Wednesday's events and Trump's encouragement and lack of engagement to call in resources to stop the protesters, the sources said. (Santucci, Faulders, Shapiro, and Karl, 1/6)
In recent days, there is a sense of futility among long-time confidants trying to get through to Trump. He's simply not engaging with some, and while with others, he's talking but not listening. He doesn't want to hear that he lost the election to Biden, that Pence can't overturn the results, that he should help rather than hurt the Republican Party, or that he should tell his protesters to stand down. (Swan and Talev, 1/7)
Section 4 has never been invoked. Before Trump, discussions of it mostly envisioned a president who became physically or mentally unwell (in the decades before it was ratified in 1967, several presidents had faced serious health problems). But due to Trump’s erratic governance, it’s come up often during his presidency. (Prokop, 1/6)
The 25th amendment has, historically, mostly been used voluntarily by presidents to temporarily transfer executive power to their vice-presidents while they undergo medical procedures under Section 3 of the amendment. It was previously invoked in 2007, when Dick Cheney was made acting president for two hours while George W Bush underwent a colonoscopy. (Vock, 1/7)
