00:00Look, the 25th Amendment, which everybody's talking about, is all about continuity in office and the stability of the government.
00:07And the first provision is about what happens if the presidency is vacant.
00:11The second provision is about what happens if the vice presidency is vacant.
00:14The third provision I think of is the colonoscopy provision because it says the president can voluntarily, temporarily turn over
00:22power.
00:22But the fourth provision is the one everybody's talking about.
00:24But section four is about what happens if the president is unable for physical reasons or mental or cognitive reasons.
00:32Or mental or cognitive. Let's emphasize that piece.
00:34What if the president cannot satisfy the duties of the office and discharge the powers and duties of office?
00:40And it says the vice president and a majority of the cabinet can act to transfer the powers to the
00:45vice president.
00:45Everybody seems to know that.
00:47But there's another little known part, which says, or the vice president and a body set up by Congress can
00:54make the same judgment.
00:55And since 1967, Congress has never set up the other body called for by the Constitution in the 25th Amendment.
01:04Hey, everyone.
01:04We are here with the esteemed ranking member of our Judiciary Committee, the great constitutional scholar, Jamie Raskin, who is
01:13the congressman for Maryland.
01:14And today you filed a bill that many of us co-sponsored.
01:18Tell us a little bit about this bill.
01:19And thank you for joining me, Congresswoman Stansbury.
01:22Hello to my friends in New Mexico and everywhere across the country.
01:27Look, the 25th Amendment, which everybody's talking about, is all about continuity in office and the stability of the government.
01:34And the first provision is about what happens if the presidency is vacant.
01:37The second provision is about what happens if the vice presidency is vacant.
01:41The second, the third provision I think of is the colonoscopy provision, because it says the president can voluntarily, temporarily
01:48turn over power.
01:49But the fourth provision is the one everybody's talking about.
01:51Section four is about what happens if the president is unable for physical reasons or mental or cognitive reasons.
01:59Or mental or cognitive.
02:00Let's emphasize that piece.
02:01What if the president cannot satisfy the duties of the office and discharge the powers and duties of office?
02:06And it says the vice president and a majority of the cabinet can act to transfer the powers to the
02:12vice president.
02:12Everybody seems to know that.
02:14But there's another little known part which says or the vice president and a body set up by Congress can
02:20make the same judgment.
02:22And since 1967, Congress has never set up the other body called for by the Constitution in the 25th Amendment.
02:30And so we're setting that body up.
02:32And I just want to emphasize that this is really about Congress asserting its constitutional authority.
02:39The 25th Amendment was established after JFK died.
02:43It set up and clarified the line of succession.
02:48If a president is incapacitated, many of us feel like he is incapacitated in the present moment.
02:54But it's not clear what happens if the president contests a vice president or cabinet call on him to step
03:01down.
03:02And this is really about Congress asserting our authority under the 25th Amendment and saying we'll create a bipartisan body
03:09that will ultimately make that determination.
03:12It would require a cognitive test.
03:15What else would it require?
03:16Right. Well, let me just let me just add one detail, Melanie, to what you just said, because under the
03:2225th Amendment, if the president, if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet act or the vice president
03:28and majority of our new body act, still the president can say, no, no, everything's fine and would need to
03:34be overruled by a two thirds vote of the House and the Senate.
03:37So it's, you know, it's not a perfect arrangement for our situation if people are going to act with their
03:43partisan blinders on.
03:45But the new body at least would interpose some objectivity.
03:50It would be composed of doctors, psychiatrists, cognitive scientists, but also veterans of the executive branch of government, former presidents,
03:57vice presidents, attorneys general, secretaries of defense, treasury, surgeon generals and so on.
04:03So it calls for those people to be able to meet in the event of a real crisis.
04:07It's serious business.
04:08This is not just for Donald Trump.
04:09This is a permanent standing body that should have been set up long ago so we can rectify that oversight
04:16and also deal with a very serious crisis is that people are flipping out all over the country.
04:22As you know, about Trump, you know, pretending to be Jesus Christ in his little online renderings, attacking the pope,
04:31going to war without any congressional consent or authorization, engaging in crazed fulminations, profanity and so on.
04:41So people are upset about it and we need to deal with the problem.
04:44So we're taking action right here in Congress.
04:46And thank you for your leadership.
04:48Thank you, Mona Stansford.
04:49All right.
04:49Bye, everyone.
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