Trump aides grilled about alleged secret talks to remove him under the 25th Amendment at J6 hearing: report

On Tuesday, The New York Timesreported that investigators on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol are interviewing former Trump administration officials about alleged secret talks to remove the former president under the 25th Amendment in the wake of the attack.

The 25th Amendment is the part of the Constitution that allows a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unfit to exercise the duties of office and remove him from the position.

"The panel has been holding closed-door interviews with senior Trump administration officials in an effort to uncover more about the period between Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Mr. Trump’s supporters attacked Congress, and Jan. 20, when President Biden was sworn in, including talks about invoking the 25th Amendment," reported Luke Broadwater and Maggie Haberman. "On Tuesday, the panel interviewed Robert O’Brien, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, for several hours, according to two people familiar with the committee’s work."

"Investigators asked Mr. O’Brien about discussions inside the cabinet about whether to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office; about whether he considered resigning; and about the access that Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO and election conspiracy theorist, had to Mr. Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter," said the report.

Experts had previously suggested such a line of questioning was likely weeks ago. Trump himself has raged against the prospect, claiming that people wanted to invoke the 25th Amendment every time he had a "great idea."

"The committee’s investigators have also taken testimony privately from Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state, about the former president’s state of mind around the time of the attack and his fitness for office. They also questioned him about discussions that he reportedly had with Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, about the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment after the attack," noted the report. "Mr. Pompeo was evasive in response to the committee’s questioning, according to a person familiar with his interview."

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