Ed Markey calls to ‘invoke the 25th Amendment’
Sen. Ed Markey urged invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump after Trump’s letter to Norway’s prime minister revealed plans to acquire Greenland and linked those ambitions to being denied the Nobel Peace Prize. Markey tweeted “Invoke the 25th Amendment,” reacting to what he framed as dangerously irrational behavior. The article explains the 25th amendment’s role in transferring presidential power, notes Section 4 allows the vice president and a Cabinet majority to declare a president “unable to discharge” duties (a provision never used against a president), and reviews past, limited uses of the amendment. It recalls Democrats’ push to use the amendment after the jan. 6 attack and Republican calls in 2024 for Kamala Harris to invoke it against President Biden following a special counsel report. Lawmakers are split over Trump’s Greenland effort: some GOP members back it, but figures like Sen. Rand Paul say it lacks broad Republican support, while Sen. Tim Kaine has signaled moves to curb Trump’s war powers regarding Greenland. The piece also notes EU opposition to U.S. threats over Greenland and that the Washington Examiner sought comment from the White House.
Ed Markey calls to ‘invoke the 25th Amendment’
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) called to remove President Donald Trump from office via the 25th Amendment due to Trump’s recent efforts to acquire Greenland.
Markey was responding to the letter Trump sent to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. This letter included complaints that Trump’s ambitions to take over Greenland were partially because he was rejected for the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
The 25th Amendment establishes procedures for the transfer of presidential power and provides a means for the president to be removed from office if they are incapable of serving. This amendment was ratified in 1967 following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
While the amendment was invoked when President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, it has only been used temporarily four other times in history, when presidents underwent medical procedures. The most recent example was November 2021, when then-President Joe Biden transferred power to Vice President Kamala Harris for 85 minutes while he underwent a colonoscopy.
Under Section 4, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet may notify the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office,” in which case the vice president becomes acting president. This section of the amendment has never been used against a president.
Democrats last pushed to invoke the amendment in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack in 2021. Markey has served in the Senate since winning his first election in 2012.
Republican lawmakers were alone when they called for Harris to invoke the amendment in February 2024 after a special counsel report described the president as a “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
Trump’s effort to make Greenland U.S. territory has split lawmakers. While Trump has the support of some within the GOP, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) previously foreshadowed another resolution to curb Trump’s war powers, this time with Greenland. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) also revealed on Sunday that the acquisition effort has little Republican support.
EUROPE STANDS ‘UNITED’ BEHIND GREENLAND AS IT READIES RESPONSE TO TRUMP TARIFF THREAT
“On the war powers, or on militarily invading Greenland, I’ve heard of no Republican support for that,” Paul said on NBC News’s Meet the Press. “Even the most hawkish members of our caucus have said they won’t support that.”
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the White House for comment.
" Conservative News Daily does not always share or support the views and opinions expressed here; they are just those of the writer."
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
