User:Super Cyclonic Storm Corona/2021 efforts to remove Donald Trump from office

Following the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, government officials accused him of incitement to violence for encouraging the failed insurrection and called for him to be removed from office. Democratic and Republican Party members of Congress including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and associated officials have called for stripping Trump of his powers and duties immediately under Section 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, demanding his immediate resignation from office, or removing Trump from office via impeachment and conviction. Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment has also been under consideration.

As of the evening of January 7, 2021, over 200 House and Senate members were calling for Trump's removal either via the 25th Amendment or impeachment, as NBC News reported. Speaker Pelosi said the House will impeach Trump for instigating "an armed insurrection against America" if his cabinet does not strip him of his powers and duties, using the 25th Amendment.

As of January 8, Democrats planned to introduce an impeachment resolution on Monday, January 11, and the House Rules Committee was also expected to meet that day or the next "to approve a rule that would govern floor debate for an impeachment resolution and Raskin's bill to create a new mechanism to invoke the 25th Amendment." By late January 9, it was reported that Pence had not ruled out that he might invoke the 25th Amendment.

Possible Scenarios
Four conditions have been posited by members of Donald Trump’s cabinet, several members of Congress, political commentators, and legal scholars. One of these four would occur if either action were implemented before January 20:


 * Resignation – if Trump were to resign, Vice President Mike Pence would become the 46th president of the United States; he would be the shortest-serving president ever, being in office for up to just 9 days before handing power to Joe Biden as the 47th president on January 20. This would surpass the record of William Henry Harrison, who died 31 days into his term. It would be the second time in history that a president would be forced to resign; the first was the 1974 resignation of Richard Nixon when it appeared inevitable that he would be impeached and removed from office for his role in the Watergate scandal.
 * 14th Amendment – if Section 3 of the 14th Amendment action is carried out, it would immediately make Pence the 46th president of the United States, and he would still be the shortest-serving president ever before handing power to Joe Biden as the 47th president on January 20. It would also be the first time in modern history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was invoked since 1919 to stop Victor L. Berger, convicted of violating the Espionage Act for his anti-militarist views, from taking his seat in the House of Representatives. It would also be the first time in the history of the United States that the 14th Amendment would be invoked on a sitting president. However, this is seen as one of the most unlikely options.
 * 25th Amendment – if Section 4 of the 25th Amendment action is carried out it would make Pence the acting president, assuming the "powers and duties of the office" of the president. Trump would remain president for the rest of his term, albeit stripped of all authority. It would also be the first time in history that Section 4 of the 25th Amendment was invoked. Presumably, Pence would remain acting president until Biden is sworn in as the 46th president on January 20, 2021.
 * Impeachment and conviction – if impeachment and conviction were to occur before Trump's term ends, it would make Pence the 46th president with immediate effect, and Trump the first president in United States history to be convicted in an impeachment trial. If Trump were impeached (regardless of the outcome of the subsequent trial in the Senate), it would also make him the first president in United States history to be impeached twice. Discussions have been made about possibly convicting Trump in the Senate after he leaves office, leaving open the possibility of permanently restricting a convicted former president from ever holding public office. However, this has never been constitutionally tested, except for the 1876 trader post scandal, which saw Secretary of War William W. Belknap impeached by the House even after he had already resigned, although he was acquitted by the Senate. As with a resignation, Pence would serve as the shortest-tenured president in American history before handing power to Biden as the 47th president on January 20.