A growing coalition of Democratic U.S. lawmakers is demanding President Donald Trump be stripped of executive authority through the 25th Amendment, a little-used constitutional mechanism that allows the vice president and cabinet to remove a sitting president deemed unfit to fulfill their official duties. The unprecedented call comes amid an escalating war in the Middle East that has now entered its seventh week, driven by Trump’s increasingly extreme rhetoric targeting Iran that critics have labeled a threat of genocide and war crimes.
In a social media post Tuesday, Trump issued an ultimatum to Iran’s leadership: by 8 p.m. Washington local time, Tehran must agree to Washington’s demands to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, halt all nuclear enrichment activities, and end its domestic missile production program. If his conditions are not met, Trump vowed to “obliterate” Iran’s critical civilian infrastructure—including energy grids, communications networks, and public water systems that millions of Iranian civilians depend on for survival. In his most alarming remark, he warned that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if the Islamic Republic refuses to comply.
Iranian leaders have flatly rejected Trump’s non-negotiable preconditions, countering with demands for a complete end to all U.S. and Israeli military hostilities across the region and full financial compensation for damage already inflicted by ongoing conflict.
As of Tuesday afternoon in Washington, D.C., at least 30 sitting members of Congress have publicly and explicitly called for Trump’s immediate removal through the 25th Amendment process. California Congressman Ro Khanna laid out the urgency of the demand in a video posted to X Tuesday, arguing that Trump’s public statements cross fundamental moral and legal lines.
“If the United States Congress has any life left in it, every member of the House and Senate must be calling for Trump’s removal today, based on the 25th amendment,” Khanna said. “He is threatening the entire destruction of a civilisation. He is calling Iranians ‘animals’. He is showing a total disregard for the humanity of people in Iran, in Gaza, in Cuba. This is a moral crime. It is a war crime. We need to be demanding that Congress convene today, and we need to be invoking the 25th amendment.”
When questioned by reporters Monday about whether targeting Iran’s civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime given its direct impact on civilian survival, Trump dismissed all concerns out of hand.
Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette added that if Trump’s cabinet refuses to act to remove the president, Congress should immediately launch new impeachment proceedings. “Donald Trump is openly threatening war crimes against the entirety of Iranian civilization. 25th Amendment proceedings must begin immediately, but if the Cabinet is too cowardly, the House should begin the impeachment process,” she wrote on X.
Illinois Congresswoman Delia Ramirez echoed DeGette’s position, accusing Trump of deliberately escalating the conflict to advance his own political and financial interests. “He is a warmonger, escalating the conflict for his own profit and consolidation of power,” Ramirez added.
Congress has already seen one impeachment effort against Trump launched earlier this year, on December 10 by Texas Congressman Al Green. The measure currently has only two co-sponsors and has failed to gain momentum, largely because both chambers of Congress are held by Republican majorities—any impeachment trial in the Senate would almost certainly result in acquittal. If November’s midterm elections flip congressional control to Democrats, however, a third impeachment (following 2018 and 2021 efforts) becomes a distinct possibility.
Arizona Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, who is of Iranian descent, went a step further Monday, announcing she will introduce articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, one of the most prominent public advocates for expanding the war into Iran. “Trump is escalating a devastating, illegal war, threatening massive war crimes and targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran…the rhetoric has crossed every line. Pete Hegseth is complicit,” Ansari wrote. “It’s clear he’s unfit to be president.”
Michigan Congressman Shri Thanedar called out Republican lawmakers for their silence, writing on X: “If Vance, Rubio & the others continue to be spineless cowards, Congress must do everything possible to stop Trump & this war.” Fellow Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib called Trump a “maniac” who “should be removed from office,” adding: “After bombing a school and massacring young girls, the war criminal in the White House is threatening genocide. It’s time to invoke the 25th Amendment.”
Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who has been repeatedly targeted by Trump’s anti-Somali rhetoric, called Trump an “unhinged lunatic” and issued a two-word demand: “Impeach. Remove.” Wisconsin Congressman Mark Pocan warned that Trump poses an immediate existential risk: “He is too unhinged, dangerous, and deranged to have the nuclear codes!” California Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove labeled Trump’s rhetoric “pure evil,” urging Republicans to break with the president. “Republicans, if there were ever a time to stand up, it’s now,” she wrote. “I’m sick to my stomach. Trump’s genocidal language and indiscriminate warfare cannot be normalized or accepted.”
Multiple other Democratic lawmakers have echoed these condemnations, with Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton arguing that the threat cannot be dismissed as typical Trump behavior. “This is not just ‘Trump being Trump’. This is an insane man who is unfit for office,” Moulton said. Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride noted that Trump’s threat crosses an unprecedented red line even for a presidency defined by controversial rhetoric. “In a political career defined by grotesque statements, this president’s horrifying, illegal, and genocidal threat this morning is among the most dangerous and appalling,” she wrote Tuesday. “You can’t shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theater and a president cannot be allowed to threaten genocide with the United States military.”
Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey went even further, urging active-duty U.S. troops to refuse to carry out any orders that qualify as war crimes, noting that the current conflict was never authorized by Congress. “To the members of our military: remember, you do not have to follow illegal orders,” Markey wrote.
No sitting Republican lawmakers have publicly expressed support for removing Trump, but one high-profile former Republican member of Congress, Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia, broke with party lines to back the 25th Amendment push. “25TH AMENDMENT!!! Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness,” she wrote on X.
The 25th Amendment, ratified in 1967, outlines the formal constitutional process for transferring executive power in the event a sitting president is deemed unable to carry out their duties. The mechanism has never before been used to permanently remove a sitting president; past uses have only involved temporary transfers of power while presidents underwent medical procedures requiring general anesthesia.
To initiate the process to remove Trump, Vice President JD Vance and a majority of Trump’s cabinet (or an alternate congressional body created for this purpose) must first formally agree that the president is unfit to serve due to mental or physical incapacity. That declaration must be submitted in writing to the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore, the second-highest ranking Senate leader who presides over votes when the vice president is absent. Immediately upon submission, Vance would assume the powers of the acting presidency.
Trump would then have the right to submit his own declaration to Congress asserting he is capable of resuming his duties, which would allow him to retake power immediately. Vance and the cabinet would then have four days to submit an appeal to Congress, at which point lawmakers would convene to vote on the question of removal. A two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate is required to formalize the president’s removal, after which the vice president would serve as acting president until the next scheduled presidential election. Without that two-thirds majority, Trump would remain in office.