Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is calling on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet to remove him from office following Wednesday’s violent assault on the Capitol by the president’s supporters.

In a statement Thursday, Schumer said the attack on the Capitol “was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president.” He added, “This president should not hold office one day longer.”

Schumer said Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet should invoke the 25th Amendment and immediately remove Trump from office. He added, “If the vice president and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president.”

Section 4 of the 25th Amendment has never before been invoked. It posits that if Cabinet secretaries and the vice president decide the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” they can inform congressional leaders and subsequently the vice president would take over. But how exactly would this process work? Would the current situation meet the threshold of the 25th amendment? And would it be wise to invoke it less than two weeks from the inauguration of the next president?

With files from the Associated Press. 

Guests:

M. Tia Johnson, visiting professor of law and former director of the National Security Law Program at Georgetown Law; she served in the Obama Administration as the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs, at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2015-2017)

Ilya Somin, professor of law at George Mason University where he specializes in constitutional law; he tweets

Pratheepan Gulasekaram, professor of law at Santa Clara Law, where he specializes in constitutional and immigration law; he tweets