Rep. Jackie Speier calls for Trump's removal under 25th Amendment

A Bay Area congresswoman who sits on the House Intelligence Committee called for President Donald Trump to be removed from the presidency under a constitutional provision that has never before been invoked.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, on Tuesday became the first member of Congress to say that Trump should be removed from office using the 25th Amendment, following his latest comments blaming "many sides" for violence after white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In a phone interview with KTVU on Wednesday, Speier said there is a "mountain of evidence growing that he's unstable and impulsive." She said Trump could be a danger, and someone who could easily "push the button the engage us in nuclear war."

However, other Bay Area Congress members, including Eric Swalwell and Barbara Lee, and Senator Kamala Harris, for example, have been very vocal about their dislike of Trump's policies and actions. All are Democrats. On Wednesday for example, Swalwell called Trump "unfocused and unstable."

The 25th Amendment, states that the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet can temporarily remove the president from office by declaring him or her "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office" in a letter to Congress. The vice president would then become the acting president.

If the president objects to his or her removal, the debate goes to Congress. A two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Congress is required to keep the president from returning to office.

But there's been no sign -- publicly, at least -- that Vice President Mike Pence or the members of Trump's Cabinet are considering taking action to remove him, the Mercury News reported.