Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said Thursday on CNN’s “The Lead” that while President Donald Trump has blood on his hands, the 25th Amendment should not be invoked to remove him from office because it could create a dispute causing there to be two presidents.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Let me just ask you, do you think President Trump has blood on his hands?”
Bolton replied, “I think he does. Look, I agree with Bill Barr. I think he did incite this mob, with the clear intention of having them disrupt the Electoral College certification, and delay it to give him more time.”
He continued, “But let’s just take the 25th Amendment for a second. It says that if the vice president can round up a majority of the Cabinet, they can write saying that the president is unable to fulfill the powers and duties of his office. In response…Section 4 says the president can then write a letter saying, I can too. And if the vice president and this majority of the Cabinet write back again and say, well, we still disagree, Congress then has 21 days to decide the issue. So, imagine this, in the last 13 days of the Trump administration, you could have two people both claiming to hold the powers of the presidency. Do you think Donald Trump will write — will back down when he gets a letter from Mike Pence? Think again. So are we better off with two presidents competing with each other in the last 13 days? I think you risk making the situation, which is as bad as it is, far worse.”
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