Limbaugh calls 25th Amendment discussions ‘silent coup’

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Sunday decried former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s comments that Justice Department officials raised a plan to potentially remove President Trump from office as a “silent coup,” and suggested those involved should be imprisoned.

“We’re losing sight of what happened. People unelected, simply ’cause they don’t like a guy’s hairstyle or like where he came from, decided the American people’s decision was invalid and began a systematic process to get him thrown out of office,” Limbaugh said on “Fox News Sunday.”

{mosads}”This is a silent coup,” he continued. “These guys, if you ask me, ought to be the ones in jail. They ought to be the ones under investigation.”

McCabe said in a “60 Minutes” interview set to air Sunday that there were conversations among Justice Department officials raising the possibility of removing Trump via the 25th Amendment, and that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had offered to wear a wire around the president.

The Justice Department issued a statement in response reiterating Rosenstein’s denial of the claim, which the deputy attorney general called “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”

The discussions had previously been reported by The New York Times.

McCabe has since walked back his remarks, with a spokesperson issuing a statement that he did not “participate in any extended discussions about the use of the 25th Amendment, nor is he aware of any such discussions.” 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the chairman the of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he intends to subpoena McCabe and Rosenstein to testify before the panel about their remarks if they won’t agree to do so voluntarily.

Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election has thus far implicated six former Trump associates and dozens of Russians.