SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
"If senior officials believe the president is unfit, they should stop hiding behind anonymous op-eds and leaking information to Bob Woodward boasting that they're trying to save our country," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote. (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Elizabeth Warren to White House Officials: Stop 'Hiding' Behind Op-Eds and Remove Trump From Office
"Let's be clear: We already have a constitutional crisis if the cabinet believes the President of the United States can’t do his job and then refuses to follow the rules that have been laid down in the Constitution."
Sep 07, 2018
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has a strong message for White House officials: Instead of warning the public about how deranged and dangerous President Donald Trump is through anonymous op-eds and "deep background" book interviews, take concrete action by invoking the 25th Amendment and removing him from office.
"If senior officials believe the president is unfit, they should stop hiding behind anonymous op-eds and leaking information to Bob Woodward boasting that they're trying to save our country, and instead do what the Constitution demands they do."
--Sen. Elizabeth Warren
In a petition circulated late Thursday, Warren wrote, "If the presidential cabinet believes that President Trump is 'unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office' as the 25th Amendment states, then every minute they make excuses is a minute that our country is at risk."
"If senior officials believe the president is unfit," Warren added, "they should stop hiding behind anonymous op-eds and leaking information to Bob Woodward boasting that they're trying to save our country, and instead do what the Constitution demands they do: invoke the 25th Amendment and remove this president from office."
Warrens call for administration officials to act on their dire warnings comes just days after the publication of explosive excerpts from legendary journalist Bob Woodward's new book, largely based on sourcing he describes as "deep background" with first-hand witnesses to the events he describes, as well as an anonymous op-ed from a "senior official in the Trump administration" in the New York Times--both of which raised fresh questions about Trump's fitness for office.
According to Woodward, White House officials have devised a strategy of stealing documents from Trump's desk to prevent him from signing them and ignoring his impulsive demands, such as when he ordered Defense Secretary James Mattis to "fucking kill" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The author of the anonymous Times op-ed--which has been roundly denounced by progressives and media critics as a purely self-interested effort to recast complicit White House officials as heroes--reinforced Woodward's account, claiming vaguely that "many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations."
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Warren noted that the "Constitution provides for a procedure whenever the Vice President and senior officials think the president can't do his job," but it "does not provide that senior officials go around the President--take documents off his desk, write anonymous op-eds."
"What kind of a crisis do we have if senior officials believe that the president can't do his job and then refuse to follow the rules that have been laid down in the Constitution?" Warren asked. "They can't have it both ways. Either they think that the president is not capable of doing his job in which case they follow the rules in the Constitution, or they feel that the president is capable of doing his job, in which case they follow what the president tells them to do."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has a strong message for White House officials: Instead of warning the public about how deranged and dangerous President Donald Trump is through anonymous op-eds and "deep background" book interviews, take concrete action by invoking the 25th Amendment and removing him from office.
"If senior officials believe the president is unfit, they should stop hiding behind anonymous op-eds and leaking information to Bob Woodward boasting that they're trying to save our country, and instead do what the Constitution demands they do."
--Sen. Elizabeth Warren
In a petition circulated late Thursday, Warren wrote, "If the presidential cabinet believes that President Trump is 'unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office' as the 25th Amendment states, then every minute they make excuses is a minute that our country is at risk."
"If senior officials believe the president is unfit," Warren added, "they should stop hiding behind anonymous op-eds and leaking information to Bob Woodward boasting that they're trying to save our country, and instead do what the Constitution demands they do: invoke the 25th Amendment and remove this president from office."
Warrens call for administration officials to act on their dire warnings comes just days after the publication of explosive excerpts from legendary journalist Bob Woodward's new book, largely based on sourcing he describes as "deep background" with first-hand witnesses to the events he describes, as well as an anonymous op-ed from a "senior official in the Trump administration" in the New York Times--both of which raised fresh questions about Trump's fitness for office.
According to Woodward, White House officials have devised a strategy of stealing documents from Trump's desk to prevent him from signing them and ignoring his impulsive demands, such as when he ordered Defense Secretary James Mattis to "fucking kill" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The author of the anonymous Times op-ed--which has been roundly denounced by progressives and media critics as a purely self-interested effort to recast complicit White House officials as heroes--reinforced Woodward's account, claiming vaguely that "many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations."
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Warren noted that the "Constitution provides for a procedure whenever the Vice President and senior officials think the president can't do his job," but it "does not provide that senior officials go around the President--take documents off his desk, write anonymous op-eds."
"What kind of a crisis do we have if senior officials believe that the president can't do his job and then refuse to follow the rules that have been laid down in the Constitution?" Warren asked. "They can't have it both ways. Either they think that the president is not capable of doing his job in which case they follow the rules in the Constitution, or they feel that the president is capable of doing his job, in which case they follow what the president tells them to do."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has a strong message for White House officials: Instead of warning the public about how deranged and dangerous President Donald Trump is through anonymous op-eds and "deep background" book interviews, take concrete action by invoking the 25th Amendment and removing him from office.
"If senior officials believe the president is unfit, they should stop hiding behind anonymous op-eds and leaking information to Bob Woodward boasting that they're trying to save our country, and instead do what the Constitution demands they do."
--Sen. Elizabeth Warren
In a petition circulated late Thursday, Warren wrote, "If the presidential cabinet believes that President Trump is 'unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office' as the 25th Amendment states, then every minute they make excuses is a minute that our country is at risk."
"If senior officials believe the president is unfit," Warren added, "they should stop hiding behind anonymous op-eds and leaking information to Bob Woodward boasting that they're trying to save our country, and instead do what the Constitution demands they do: invoke the 25th Amendment and remove this president from office."
Warrens call for administration officials to act on their dire warnings comes just days after the publication of explosive excerpts from legendary journalist Bob Woodward's new book, largely based on sourcing he describes as "deep background" with first-hand witnesses to the events he describes, as well as an anonymous op-ed from a "senior official in the Trump administration" in the New York Times--both of which raised fresh questions about Trump's fitness for office.
According to Woodward, White House officials have devised a strategy of stealing documents from Trump's desk to prevent him from signing them and ignoring his impulsive demands, such as when he ordered Defense Secretary James Mattis to "fucking kill" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The author of the anonymous Times op-ed--which has been roundly denounced by progressives and media critics as a purely self-interested effort to recast complicit White House officials as heroes--reinforced Woodward's account, claiming vaguely that "many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations."
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Warren noted that the "Constitution provides for a procedure whenever the Vice President and senior officials think the president can't do his job," but it "does not provide that senior officials go around the President--take documents off his desk, write anonymous op-eds."
"What kind of a crisis do we have if senior officials believe that the president can't do his job and then refuse to follow the rules that have been laid down in the Constitution?" Warren asked. "They can't have it both ways. Either they think that the president is not capable of doing his job in which case they follow the rules in the Constitution, or they feel that the president is capable of doing his job, in which case they follow what the president tells them to do."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.