Former CIA director John Brennan said Vice President Mike Pence and Cabinet members should use the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office prior to January 20, 2021, adding that a lot of damage can be done in the 70 days until Inauguration Day.
“He’s still the president of the United States. And is he going to carry out these vendettas against other individuals? As you pointed out, Chris Wray or Gina Haspel or others. It is clear Donald Trump is trying to exercise the power because he can. And he is going to settle scores,” Brennan told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “Cuomo Prime Time” last week. “But I’m very concerned what he might do in his remaining 70 days in office. Is he going to take some type of military action? Is he going to release some type of information that could, in fact, threaten our national security interests? I think people need to be looking very carefully at what he’s doing. Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress continue to give Donald Trump a pass.”
Cuomo asked the former CIA director if he believes something can be done to stop President Trump from doing “anything he wants to do” in the next 70 days.
Brennan responded by taking a shot at Vice President Pence, as well as President Trump’s cabinet, saying if they had “an ounce of fortitude and spine and patriotism” they would seek to remove the President from office.
“I think they would seriously consider invoking the 25th Amendment and pushing Donald Trump out because he is just very unpredictable now,” Brennan said. “He’s like a cornered cat, tiger, and he’s going to lash out. And the fact again that he has the powers of the presidency in his hands is quite worrisome. We know that Attorney General Barr has done Donald Trump’s bidding in the past. Will he continue to do that vis-a-vis this election? I don’t know, but I do think it’s something that the members of Congress, the leadership of the Republican Party, really needs to send clear signals to Donald Trump that if he continues to go along this path, they are going to put up roadblocks.”
Under the 25th Amendment, the vice president, in conjunction with a “majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,” can declare the president incapable of completing the “powers and duties” and remove him from office.
