If Trump is unfit, use constitutional powers to remove him: Senator
Washington, Sep 7 : A US Senator has said that it was time to use constitutional powers to remove President Donald Trump from office if top officials thought he was unfit for the job.
"If senior administration officials think the President of the US is not able to do his job, then they should invoke the 25th Amendment," Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren told CNN on Thursday.
"The Constitution provides for a procedure whenever the Vice President and senior officials think the President can't do his job. It does not provide that senior officials go around the President -- take documents off his desk, write anonymous op-eds... Everyone of these officials have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the US. It's time for them to do their job."
The hard-charging comments by Warren, a potential 2020 Democrat presidential candidate, comes in the wake of a shocking New York Times opinion piece where an anonymous official raises deep concerns about Trump and contends that there were some initial conversations to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the President from office.
The White House has aggressively slammed the piece, calling the author a traitor and a coward.
Warrren dismissed questions that invoking constitutional remedies would provoke a constitutional crisis.
"What kind of a crisis do we have if senior officials believe that the President can't do his job and then refuse to follow the rules that have been laid down in the Constitution?" Warren told CNN.
"They can't have it both ways. Either they think that the President is not capable of doing his job in which case they follow the rules in the Constitution, or they feel that the President is capable of doing his job, in which case they follow what the President tells them to do."
Warren, who is running for a second Senate term in Massachusetts this year, would not say when she would ultimately decide whether she will run for the White House.
"Right now I'm running for re-election in Massachusetts in 2018," Warren said. "I'm taking nothing for granted."
Warren is viewed as a likely presidential candidate against Trump, who rarely holds back when criticising Warren, derisively calling her "Pocahontas" because she had claimed a Native American heritage during her career as a law professor.
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
