Here Are the Ways Donald Trump Could Be Removed From Office Early

There’s a lot going on right now, so let’s break it down.

After yesterday's violent riots at Capitol Hill in the US, there have been many calls from the public, members of Congress and governors on both sides of the political spectrum for US President Donald Trump to be removed from office early.

There have been calls to impeach Trump or to invoke the 25th Amendment. Plus, fellow republican Phil Scott even asked him to resign. 

Trump has also been banned from several social media platforms and temporarily suspended from others due to yesterday’s events.

So, it's safe to say everyone is wondering: How do these processes work and can Trump actually be removed from office early?

Well, let’s break down what it all means and what's likely going to happen next.

So, what exactly happened?

Since the result of the public vote for the US election was announced, Donald Trump has been falsely claiming that he actually won the election and the results were rigged.

Over the weekend, Trump also held an hour-long phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, in which he repeatedly urged him to alter the outcome of the presidential vote in the state. You can read the entire transcript in a report by The Washington Post.

It all came to a head earlier this week, when Trump urged his supporters to storm the Capitol during a nearly two-hour speech where he repeatedly claimed that the election had been stolen from him.

Soon after, demonstrators breached the Capitol building. As reported by the ABC, rioters smashed windows, looted chambers and invaded lawmakers' offices. 

As a result, the electoral count was put on hold, and Congressmen and women were moved to secure locations.

According to The New York Times, a pipe bomb was also found at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee in Washington.

Due to this violence being incited by Trump and his false claims being so widely spread, he was temporarily suspended from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and many are calling on him to resign or to be removed from office.

Okay, so what is the 25th Amendment?

One of the most common calls from the public and members of Congress has been to invoke the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

This amendment, which was ratified in 1967, allows an orderly transfer of power if the president is unable to execute their duties.

In general, this amendment is intended to apply when a president is incapacitated due to mental or physical illness.

"In case of the removal of the president from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the vice-president," states the US Constitution.

The 25th Amendment has only been invoked a few times throughout history. In both 2002 and 2007, President George W. Bush invoked the Disability Clause just before two scheduled colonoscopy procedures in which he required anaesthesia and sedation. During this time, Bush made Vice President Dick Cheney the Acting President.

However, it has never been used to permanently remove a sitting president from office.

In this case, many have argued that it should also apply to a president who is dangerously unfit for office and refuses to step down.

For the 25th Amendment to be invoked, Vice President Michael Pence and the majority of Trump’s Cabinet would have to declare that Trump is unfit or unable to perform his duties.

Trump does also have the power to contest this, but unless Pence and the majority Cabinet fail to decline his contention, he would be removed from office by a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress.

The likelihood of Pence and the Cabinet coming to this conclusion is currently up for debate, with many people believing that Pence would be reluctant to invoke the 25th Amendment. However, the relationship between Pence and Trump has quickly deteriorated over the last few days after Pence defied Trump and said that he could not reject the electoral votes that would make Joe Biden president.

Currently, democratic Congress members and representatives Lucy McBath, Lori Trahan, Sylvia Garcia, Ted Lieu, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush have all called for the invoking of the 25th Amendment on Twitter.

According to CNN, this has also been supported by many republican leaders who have remained anonymous.

Right. So, how would an impeachment work?

Many members of Congress have also suggested that Trump should be removed from office via impeachment.

As we know, Trump has been charged with impeachment before, but remained as the current sitting president.

If you need a refresher, impeachment is the process by which a legislative body levels charges against a government official. Essentially, it’s the way of charging a government official with a high crime or misdemeanour.

If the impeachment process is successful, that government official is removed from office, but this has never happened in US politics before.

With the inauguration of Biden just two weeks away and many republicans still in support of Trump, it is unlikely that Congress would be able to undertake this process in time.

Some people have also pointed out that it is unlikely that impeachment would even be possible, because while Trump incited the violence towards the Capitol, he technically hasn’t committed a crime according to the law.

Can Trump be indefinitely banned from social media?

The demonstrators at Capitol Hill were further encouraged by Trump calling them "patriots" on Twitter. These tweets are no longer available as they have been removed. The social media website also suspended Trump for 12 hours.

Twitter told the president that his account would remain locked until he removed three tweets that violated their policies.

The offending tweets have since been removed and Trump’s Twitter account has been reinstated.

However, Twitter has stated that any future violations from the @realDonaldTrump account will result in a permanent suspension.

Other platforms like Facebook and Instagram have chosen to ban Trump indefinitely, for at least the next two weeks.

On Wednesday, Facebook enacted a 24-hour ban on Trump which was then made indefinite due to Trump’s "use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

As Instagram is owned by Facebook, Trump has also been banned from the social media platform.

Other platforms like Twitch, Snapchat and YouTube have chosen to remove content, block or lock out Trump due to violent images being shared. It is unclear if these actions will eventually be removed or are to be made permanent.

While there is much discussion about the next steps for Trump, he will eventually leave office and be succeeded by Biden.

Biden defeated Trump by 306-232 electoral votes and will be inaugurated on 20 January.

Header Image: @realDonaldTrump via Twitter