Secretary Carson: Haven’t Talked About Using 25th Amendment

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson testifies during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Washington on Sept. 10, 2019. Zach Gibson/Getty Images

One of President Donald Trump’s longest-tenured Cabinet members on Friday said he has not spoken with anybody about using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

“As a nation we need to heal. I have not talked to anyone about invoking the 25th Amendment, and I am focused on finishing what I started in uplifting the forgotten women and men of America,” Ben Carson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said in a tweet.

“It’s time to move toward peace. We are not each other’s enemies!” he added.

Democrats began pushing for Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to remove Trump after protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

No Cabinet members have appeared to show support for the proposal, at least in public. A source told The Epoch Times that there is no chance Pence is invoking the amendment.

The amendment enables the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare in writing that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” The declaration is submitted to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House, and the vice president immediately assumes the powers and duties of the office of the president.

A president can transmit via writing a declaration that no inability to discharge the powers of the office exists, and would resume the office unless the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet declare again that he is unable to serve. That would trigger a session of Congress, which would then decide on the matter.

President Donald Trump speaks at the "Stop The Steal" Rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Less than two weeks remain in Trump’s term—President-elect Joe Biden is set to be sworn into office on Jan. 20—but some Democrats want to remove the president anyway.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was among those trying to pressure Pence and Cabinet members to act, threatening to impeach Trump if they do not. A congresswoman on Friday introduced articles of impeachment.

Some legislators have pushed back on the effort, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

“If Speaker Pelosi pushed impeachment in the last days of the Trump presidency, it will do more harm than good. I’m hopeful President-elect Biden sees the damage that would be done from such action,” he said.

A Biden spokesman told news outlets that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris “are focused on their duty—preparing to take office on Jan. 20—and will leave it to VP Pence, the Cabinet, and the Congress to act as they see fit.”