Raskin introduces long-shot bill to assess president’s fitness under 25th Amendment

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill on Tuesday that would establish a commission to examine whether the president is fit to serve in office.

More than 70 Democrats called for President Trump’s removal from office after he issued a series of blistering threats against Iran last week, including a stark warning that a “whole civilization will die” if Tehran didn’t strike a peace deal. 

Raskin’s bill would establish a “Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of the Office,” which, if directed by Congress, “shall carry out a medical examination of the President to determine whether the President is mentally or physically unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.” 

The commission is intended to carry out section 4 of the 25th Amendment, which says that the vice president should serve as acting president if he and a majority of the Cabinet or “such other body as Congress may by law provide” submit a written declaration to the Speaker of the House and president pro tempore of the Senate that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”

While the bill is unlikely to advance in the GOP-controlled Congress, it underscores Democrats’ efforts to push back against the Trump administration.

“Public trust in Donald Trump’s ability to meet the duties of his office has dropped to unprecedented lows as he threatens to destroy entire civilizations, unleashes chaos in the Middle East while violating Congressional war powers, aggressively insults the Pope of the Catholic Church and sends out artistic renderings online likening himself to Jesus Christ. We are at a dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment to protect the American people from an increasingly volatile and unstable situation,” Raskin said in a statement. 

Fifty House Democrats have cosponsored the legislation, according to a press release. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has mainly been mum on calls from members of his party to have Trump ousted. 

Asked whether Trump’s rhetoric against Iran is worthy of impeachment or the 25th Amendment, Jeffries said on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” last week, “Well, in terms of, you know, impeachment and things of that matter, we’ve said we’ve ruled nothing out and we’ve rule nothing in, but we’re going to deal with what’s in front of us.”

It takes a majority vote of the House to impeach a president and a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict and remove a president. Most House Democrats have previously voted with Republicans in blocking impeachment resolutions by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), as leaders have been wary of the partisan message it could send to voters in swing districts ahead of a competitive election cycle. 

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