What is the 25th Amendment? What to know as calls grow to remove Trump from office

Democrats — and even some conservative figures — have called for Trump's Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare him unfit to serve.

President Donald Trump’s threats to wipe out the entire Iranian civilization has sparked calls from dozens of congressional Democrats — and even some Republicans — to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

Trump’s rhetoric, saying “a whole civilization” could die if Tehran didn’t reach a deal with the U.S., led many Democratic lawmakers and right-wing voices to express concerns about just how far Trump was willing to go in the Iran war, including committing war crimes.

The roster of conservative figures rebuking Trump this week over Iran includes a list of his once most reliable supporters: Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, Mike Cernovich, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Turning Point USA's former communications director Candace Owens, among many others.

Jones and Greene have called for the Cabinet to use the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to declare Trump unable to fulfill his duties and oust him from the Oval Office. They join more than 70 lawmakers, including a handful of senators, who said in separate social media posts that Trump's Cabinet needs to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare him unfit to serve.

Here's what to know about the 25th Amendment:

What is the 25th Amendment?

The 25th Amendment outlines a presidential succession plan in the event of a president’s disability or death, or if they become incapacitated. The push for a procedure to replace a president came in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. President Lyndon B. Johnson in his 1965 State of the Union promised to "propose laws to insure the necessary continuity of leadership should the President become disabled or die." The amendment was passed by Congress that year and ultimately ratified in 1967.

How does it work?

The majority of the time, the 25th amendment is implemented by the President himself due to a medical procedure. To temporarily transfer power to the vice president, a president sends a letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives and president pro tempore of the Senate stating he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” The vice president then becomes acting president. When the president is ready to resume authority, the president sends another letter. That’s spelled out in the amendment’s Section 3.

The next section of the amendment, Section 4, lays out what happens if the president becomes unable to discharge his duties but doesn’t transfer power. This is the section that could be applied by Vice President JD Vance and Trump's cabinet to remove Trump from office.

In that case, the vice president and majority of the Cabinet can declare the president unfit. They’d then send a letter to the speaker and president pro tempore saying so. The vice president then becomes acting president.

If the president ultimately becomes ready to resume his duties, the president can send a letter saying so. But if the vice president and majority of the Cabinet disagree, they can send their own letter to Congress within four days. Congress would then have to vote. The president resumes his duties unless both houses of Congress by a two-thirds vote say he’s not ready. The section has never been invoked.

Has the 25th Amendment ever been invoked?

Yes, presidents have temporarily relinquished power but not all invoked the 25th Amendment. Previous transfers of power have generally been brief and happened when the president was undergoing a medical procedure.

In 2002, President George W. Bush became the first to use the amendment’s Section 3 to temporarily transfer power to Vice President Dick Cheney while Bush was anesthetized for a colonoscopy. Bush temporarily transferred power in 2007 to undergo another colonoscopy.

The 25th Amendment was never invoked after President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. Reagan did temporarily transfer power to Vice President George H. W. Bush while undergoing surgery to remove a polyp from his colon in 1985, but he said at the time he wasn’t formally invoking the 25th Amendment. While he said he was “mindful” of it, he didn’t believe “that the drafters of this Amendment intended its application to situations such as the instant one.” Bush was acting president for eight hours according to a book on the amendment by John D. Feerick.

Can it really be used to remove Trump from Office?

Yes, but it's unlikely. Twelve of the 23 members of Trump's cabinet would have to agree, including Vice President JD Vance.

Even if they did remove him, Trump would be able to declare himself fit to serve, and it would go before Congress, where two-thirds of both the House and Senate would have to determine he's unfit to keep him out of office. With Republicans holding majorities in both houses, many of whom are Trump loyalists, the chances of Trump being removed via the 25th amendment seem very low.