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ANALYSIS: The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced early Friday (local time) on Twitter that he had been diagnosed with the coronavirus and that he will spend several days at the Walter Reed Medical Center for treatment and evaluation.
The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides some answers on how presidential power could be transferred, either temporarily or more permanently.
Trump has not invoked the amendment in this case. In fact, the White House said he will continue to work from an office that was installed in the hospital.
Here are some questions and answers about the amendment.
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Jacquelyn Martin / AP
A police officer blocks a road before President Donald Trump arrives at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after he tested positive for Covid-19.
WHY WAS IT APPROVED?
The push for an amendment detailing America’s presidential succession plans followed the assassination of President John F Kennedy in 1963.
President Lyndon B Johnson, in his 1965 State of the Union, promised to “propose laws to ensure the necessary continuity of leadership in the event the president is disabled or dies.”
The amendment was approved by Congress that year and finally ratified in 1967.
HAS IT BEEN INVOKED BEFORE TO TRANSFER POWER?
Yes, the presidents have temporarily resigned from power, but not all invoked the 25th Amendment.
Previous transfers of power have generally been brief and occurred while the president was undergoing a medical procedure.
Alex Brandon / AP
President Trump salutes while boarding Marine One as he leaves the White House to go to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after he tested positive for Covid-19.
In 2002, President George W. Bush became the first to use Section 3 of the amendment to temporarily transfer power to Vice President Dick Cheney while Bush was anesthetized for a colonoscopy.
Bush temporarily transferred power in 2007 to undergo another colonoscopy.
And RONALD REAGAN?
The 25th Amendment was never invoked after President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
Reagan temporarily transferred power to Vice President George HW Bush while he underwent surgery to remove a polyp from his colon in 1985, but said he was not formally invoking the 25th Amendment at the time.
While he said he was “aware” of this, he did not believe “that the drafters of this Amendment intended to apply it to situations like the present one.”
Bush served as acting president for eight hours, according to a book on the amendment by John D. Feerick.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Marine One, the helicopter that took President Trump to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, lands on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
To temporarily transfer power to the vice president, a president sends a letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro tempore of the Senate that he “cannot fulfill the powers and duties of his office.”
The vice president then becomes interim president.
When the president is ready to regain authority, the president sends another letter. That is detailed in Section 3 of the amendment.
The next section of the amendment, Section 4, sets out what happens if the president is unable to serve but does not transfer power.
In that case, the vice president and the majority of the cabinet can declare the president unfit.
They would then send a letter to the president and the president pro tempore stating it.
The vice president then becomes interim president.
If the president is finally ready to resume his duties, the president can send a letter indicating so. But if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet don’t agree, they can send a letter to Congress in four days.
Then Congress would have to vote.
The president resumes his duties unless both houses of Congress, by a two-thirds vote, say he is not ready.
The section has never been invoked.
