House Dem introduces measure urging Trump undergo mental exam

A House Democrat introduced a resolution on Friday suggesting that President Trump undergo a physical and mental health exam to help determine whether he is fit for office.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s (D-Calif.) resolution specifically calls on Vice President Pence and Trump’s Cabinet members to “quickly secure the services of medical and psychiatric professionals” to “assist in their deliberations” invoking the 25th Amendment, which outlines presidential removal procedures.

It posits that such an examination by doctors would “determine whether the president suffers from mental disorder or other injury that impairs his abilities and prevents him from discharging his Constitutional duties.”

{mosads}Under the 25th Amendment, the vice president and a majority of Cabinet members can jointly declare that a president is unfit to serve. Two-thirds of both the House and Senate would have to vote to force the president’s resignation in the event the president refused to cede the Oval Office to the vice president.

Her resolution states: “President Donald J. Trump has exhibited an alarming pattern of behavior and speech causing concern that a mental disorder may have rendered him unfit and unable to fulfill his Constitutional duties.”

Lofgren’s office raised the following questions in a press release: “Does the President suffer from early stage dementia? Has the stress of office aggravated a mental illness crippling impulse control? Has emotional disorder so impaired the President that he is unable to discharge his duties? Is the President mentally and emotionally stable?”

Lofgren joins a relatively small group of Democrats in Congress who have openly questioned Trump’s mental health.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced legislation in April that would enhance the 25th Amendment by empowering former presidents and vice presidents of both parties to determine if a president is fit for office. 

Blumenauer said at the time that he was concerned the 25th Amendment in its current form would be insufficient if the president were mentally incapacitated and simply fired the entire Cabinet to prevent an ouster.

Democrats this week have been turning to every possible outlet to put pressure on Republicans in Congress to condemn Trump for his equivocating response to the violence stemming from a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend.

Dozens of Democrats have signed on to a resolution authored by Reps. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.) and Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) to censure Trump for his handling of the Charlottesville violence and insistence that “both sides” were to blame. A woman died and more than a dozen were injured when a man with white supremacist ties plowed his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters on Saturday.

One Democrat, Rep. Steve Cohen (Tenn.), even announced this week that he would introduce articles of impeachment over Trump’s response to Charlottesville.

Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) and Al Green (D-Texas) had already introduced an article of impeachment last month alleging that Trump obstructed justice by firing James Comey as FBI director amid the investigation of whether the president’s campaign colluded with the Russian government to win the presidential election.