A new bill introduced in the House of Representatives would require President Donald Trump to undergo a physical and mental health exam to determine if he is stable enough to stay in office.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) introduced a bill on Friday in the House of Representatives that would require President Donald Trump to undergo a physical and mental health exam to determine if he is stable enough to stay in office. Should the results of the said exam be unfavorable, the bill calls for Vice President Mike Pence and members of the Cabinet to remove Trump from office.
The move would invoke the 25th Amendment, a rarely-used constitutional provision that allows the vice president and a majority of Cabinet members to jointly remove the president from office and replace him with the vice president.
“Does the President suffer from early stage dementia,” Lofgren asked in a statement announcing the bill. Lofgren pointed out that Trump has not yet released a “serious” medical evaluation to the public.
Lofgren, who represents California’s 19th district, is not a professional psychiatrist or psychologist, according to Mercury News. She doesn’t expect the bill to pass, but she told the newspaper “it will stimulate conversation,” adding that Trump would get the evaluation if “he cares about the country.”
Lofgren has often criticized Trump’s remarks and policies throughout his presidency. The representative suggested on Tuesday that “something is seriously wrong with President Trump,” responding to his off-the-cuff remarks on the Charlottesville white supremacist riot made during an impromptu Q&A with reporters in New York.
Something is seriously wrong with President Trump. Why can’t he just condemn Nazis? She asked on Twitter. “Unscripted words today show who he really is. Shameful!”
Although Lofgren isn’t the first politician or critic to suggest invoking the 25th Amendment to boot the 45th President out of the White House. In June, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) led 25 House Democrats to co-sign a bill that would also oust Trump from the Oval Office under the amendment. Commenting on his bill, Raskin told our source “in case of emergency, break glass.”
That’s why Lofgren is calling for Mike Pence and other Cabinet members to “quickly secure medical and psychiatric professionals” to evaluate Trump’s mental health and any possible impairments. “If it was a physical ailment, you would be getting the advice of doctors,” Lofgren told Mercury News.
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