>> Trump administration officials have been considering invoking the 25th Amendment for
Trump following the violent mob that broke into the Capitol building yesterday and proceeded to
vandalize congressional offices. And of course, Congress had to evacuate and shelter in place,
until it took hours for cops to finally get control of this crowd.
Now officials, according to The Hill, have exchanged calls and messages
about the extraordinary measure which would require a majority of cabinet officials,
plus Vice President Pence, to declare to Congress that Trump is
unable to fulfill his duties as President. By the way, we're hearing more and more from Trump
administration officials who believe that he's mentally unstable and unfit to be in office.
The discussions appear to be limited and it's not clear whether they have reached
the level of any cabinet officials. It's not clear that officials would actually move forward with
invoking the 25th Amendment, or that enough cabinet members would even support it,
particularly given Trump has only two weeks left in office.
So, one White House official says that Mike Pence has not been contacted about this effort,
so that's according to what was reported by The Hill today. Who knows if things have changed since
then, but I think that the 25th Amendment made a lot of sense way earlier in his first term.
But of course Trump Administration officials have always been afraid of him. They won't
stand up to him and they know what the consequences will be if they even try.
So unfortunately, this is an effort that I think came
a little too late, but we'll see what happens. >> So let me give you some updates on that too.
So first of all, CBS's Margaret Brennan reporting that there was at least one cabinet official that
was definitely talking about and considering using the 25th Amendment. So it's not just assistants
or or some sources close to cabinet officials, it's the cabinet officials themselves. So, Mike
Pence is reported as furious at Donald Trump and thinks that, of course, he's got stability issues.
Look, the guy declared himself very stable, only unstable people do that. They've all known
it all along, but now it's just blowing back on them. Ana made a great point at
some point in today's show, look, the only reason why all these Republicans are upset,
and everybody in Washington is upset, is because finally the violence came to their doorstep.
When the right wing was attacking synagogues, they were attacking
immigrant communities. They were trying to blow up buildings, and they were trying to murder the
Governor of Michigan. Unconcerned, unconcerned, unconcerned. When it shows up at their doorstep
and their lives are a little bit in danger, my God, did you know that this is dangerous?
Yes, we've been telling you that all along. But since it affected the cabinet officials and the
vice president, that is part of the reason that they were considering using it. Also, because
a source told CNN, a Republican close to the president who talks to him on a regular
basis, saying he believes the president is now quote, out of his mind.
And everybody in the White House is worried that Donald Trump is going to
povoke more violence. And if he does that, they don't know what to do with him. And remember,
it looks like when a defense department came to Trump and said, will you please order the
National Guard in to restore order, Trump said no on multiple occasions.
What is unclear is who actually gave the order to actually bring the National Guard in. It looks
like it was Pence. That means that in effect, they've actually already used the 25th Amendment,
even if they didn't go through the legal process. Now think about it,
guys, there's only two weeks left, so why would you bother doing it?
But imagine if we were attacked now, imagine if there was an
emergency. And something that happened where another country did something to us.
Do you think the military should go to Donald Trump, who's clearly deranged at this point?
Hell no. They should not go to Trump. They should go to Pence.
And so the 25th Amendment is real, they should act on it.
And he's also so unstable, they're worried that they're all gonna go to jail. Let me give
you one quote here that's really important from a recent Vanity Fair story. And then
I'll tell you, unfortunately, why probably 25th Amendment's not going to happen, okay?
All these are important. So quoting Vanity Fair now, the West Wing staffer
told a friend of that the White House Counsel Pat Cipolline,
was urging White House officials not to speak to Trump or enable his coup attempt in any way,
so they could reduce the chance that they could be prosecuted for treason under the Sedition Act.
Quote, they're being told to stay away from Trump. Now, if in the White House, there's an
order by the White House counsel to stay away from the president, cuz if you talk to him,
you might be tried for treason. Well, obviously we can't have the president fulfill his duties.
So, they should definitely, definitely do the 25th Amendment, even if there's only two weeks left.
But having said all that, here's your most important indicator. Elaine Chao was a cabinet
member, and who's married to Mitch McConnell is saying that she's going to resign. Now,
if there was gonna be a 25th Amendment, Elaine Chao would have to stay to vote against Trump.
Cuz now Mitch McConnell is furious with Trump and she's part of the establishment.
She's always has been, and she would vote against Trump. She's leaving,
that's an act of both fake objection to what Trump did.
And also to get the hell out of this so she doesn't have to vote on the 25th Amendment.
So that means it probably will not happen And why? Because of the coward Republican
establishment led by Mitch McConnell. And in a lot of ways, Elaine Chao who's been in the cabinet of
nearly every Republican president of my lifetime. >> Yeah, I mean, they are. So they're such cowards
and they've enabled everything that we've experienced under the Trump administration.
In some cases, they went even further than enabling. In some cases they absolutely supported
and played an active role in accomplishing some of the horrific things that Donald Trump has wanted
to do. Including, yes, his viciousness at the border, the ridiculous trade wars that he engaged
in, that didn't actually amount to anything that improved manufacturing jobs in this country.
And the right wing has been horrible all the way through Trump's term. And
it doesn't surprise me that, of course, rather than holding him accountable in the last minute,
they're gonna go ahead and jump ship, or try to do whatever they can to rehabilitate there
own reputations. But I'm not buying it, I know exactly what they are.
And as I've said before I'm gonna say it again,
all of these Republican strong men who pretend like they're all about national security and
doing what it takes to protect this country. All of them were easily castrated by Donald Trump,
who's perhaps the stupidest person I have ever seen in politics.
And that's saying something. There are some pretty dumb individuals that we've experienced.