25th Amendment talk puts focus on how Trump’s cabinet lost trust in his judgement: report

The chaos in Donald Trump's cabinet following his coup attempt is coming into focus after Thursday's public hearing by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“You will hear about members of the Trump cabinet discussing the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment, and replacing the president of the United States,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) said in her opening statement. “Multiple members of President Trump’s own cabinet resigned immediately after Jan. 6.”

Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt reported on the significance of the 25th Amendment discussions for The New York Times.

"When Representative Liz Cheney asserted at the House Jan. 6 hearing on Thursday that Trump administration cabinet members weighed invoking the constitutional process to remove President Donald J. Trump from office after the attack on the Capitol by his supporters, she did not immediately provide details or evidence. But as the federal government convulsed in the hours and days after the deadly riot, a range of cabinet officials weighed their options, and consulted one another about how to steady the administration and ensure a peaceful transition to a new presidency," the newspaper reported.

The newspaper noted previous reporting that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the topic with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos reported raised the issue with Vice President Mike Pence.

"The reference by Ms. Cheney, a Wyoming Republican and the vice chairwoman of the House Jan. 6 committee, to the 25th Amendment being under consideration by cabinet members was one of the most striking assertions in the panel’s two-hour hearing," the newspaper reported. "The panel has signaled that it plans to use the discussions about the 25th Amendment to show not only the chaos that Mr. Trump set off by helping stoke the riot but how little confidence those around him had in his ability to be president."

DeVos and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao resigned.

Read the full report.