WASHINGTON – When President Donald Trump was hospitalized last week with COVID-19, management sought to a guarantee Americans that he still has a compatibility to serve as president.
Although he appears to be on the brink of recovery, the epidemic that has affected senior White House officials and members of Congress has led to a hypothesis about who would act as president in the event of disability.
People online to act as president if Trump takes seriously “they don’t take their day-to-day jobs seriously as the most productive we can say under heritage” in relation to their physical condition and safety, said polytologist Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute’s expert group.
Top Republicans have been criticized for ignoring the rules of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to curb the spread of coronavirus, adding social estating and dressed in masks.
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The White House and Trump’s Crusade hosted occasions that attracted thousands of people close to them, adding an occasion in the rose garden now a “super station” of the virus. And after Trump tested positive and was quarantined, the crusade didn’t end the occasions in person. .
On October 4, while Trump was still hospitalized by COVID-19, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo set off for Asia and although he reduced his itinerary, he still encountered a parade of dignitaries, the Japanese prime minister added.
Pompeo is the fourth in the line of succession that Trump will not be able to fulfill his presidential duties. Trump’s diagnosis.
In an interview Friday morning with the Hugh Hewitt Show, Pompeo said he had never cared about Trump’s ability to work. “None, ” he said when asked through Hewitt if he had ever had a moment of doubt as to whether Trump was fully responsible.
He is not “in the least tired,” Pompeo said, adding that he had had “long conversations” with Trump to keep him on top of global affairs.
On Saturday, Trump held a campaign-style rally in the South Garden, saying his doctor had allowed him to resume public events, but the question persists: if he suffered a relapse of symptoms and was seriously ill, who would deal with it?
“In a guilty administration, I would at least have in reserve a letter signed through the president temporarily transferring authority to the vice president, so that there is a transparent chain of command in case he cannot before he can do so,” Ornstein said. .
Under the 25th Amendment, the president can simply tell House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat for California, and the majority member of the Senate, Senator Charles Grassley, Republican for Iowa, that he cannot function, moving the force to Vice President Mike Pence until the president indicates he is coming back.
The amendment established the procedure for the president to voluntarily relinquisition his duties and created an approach, which has never been used, to eliminate powers when others in which the president cannot “fulfill the powers and tasks of his office. “”.
If Trump believes he can still do his homework, Pence and a closet majority disagree, a force movement to Pence would require two-thirds of the House and Senate to participate. Lawmakers can also legislate an election organization, in addition to the closet, with which the vice president simply paints to claim that Trump is unable to serve.
In an excessive circumstance, if the president were to die from the virus, Pence would be the first to succeed him, as in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. Pelosi is the second, followed by the pro tempore president of the Senate, a name celebrated through the senator. Charles Grassley, Republican for Iowa.
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On Friday, Pelosi and Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, filed an invoice that they said would create a presidential skill commission to fulfill their powers and give Congress a role to ensure “effective and uninterrupted leadership” at the office point, country.
Pelosi said the resolution is not about Trump, but about the need for a transparent procedure, while Raskin noted that COVID-19 had affected several government officials.
However, there is no mechanism that establishes a procedure if Trump and Pence are unable to serve but do not die, Ornstein said. The threat of this is not very high, but the pandemic has resurfaced considerations of procedural deficiencies raised through some legal experts. .
“There are nightmare scenarios that we are talking about here, all of which, say, were triggered by the general irresponsibility of the president, organizing those events, masks, any precautions, which created the super spreader challenge,” Ornstein said.
Those in the president’s orbit have been evaluated throughout the pandemic, however, the recent White House outbreak has shown that even repeated negative tests do not mean that a user has not been exposed and will not be negative later.
Here is a list of other people in the succession line and the main points on how they handle the dangers of COVID-19.
Pence, 61, says he tested negative for COVID-19 and continued to organize crusades after Trump tested positive and said he was not considered a threat of being exposed in close contact with the president. presidential debate with Senator Kamala Harris, a Democrat for California, Wednesday in Salt Lake City.
Pelosi, 80, said he had confidence in established protocols for the House, also claimed that he wore a mask while with other people and that he tested negative for the virus since Trump’s diagnosis.
Grassley, 87, “reviewed several times when the stage justified him and following the advice of his doctors,” said his spokesman Michael Zona, criticized for saying he would not seek a check after attending an assembly with Senator Mike Lee, Republican for Utah, who then tested positive for the virus.
“Senator Grassley continues to take precautions to protect himself from the contraction of the virus,” Zone added. “With regard to recent instances of COVID-19 in the Senate, Senator Grassley’s doctors did not propose to be tested because he did not come into close contact with suspected of having or proved to have a coronavirus. “
Mnuchin, 57, fifth in line after Pompeo, has been tested by COVID-19 for months, according to his spokesman Monica Crowley.
“It has tested negative for COVID-19 and will continue to do so on a daily basis,” he said.
Esper, 56, who ranks sixth on the list, has not published any COVID control results, however, continues to make public appearances, with a visit to West Point on Friday.
Barr, 70, ranks seventh on the list and gives up without a mask at the Rose Garden event to celebrate Trump’s supreme court selection over the weekend before Trump tested positive. On Tuesday, Justice Department spokesman Kerri Kupec said he had tested negative.
Bernhardt, 51, eighth in line, “follows CDC guidelines, has been examined several times and tested positive for COVID-19,” said spokesman Conner Swanson.
Perdue, 63, ninth and a member of the White House Coronavirus Working Group, “recently tested negative this week,” the Department of Agriculture said Tuesday.
“I haven’t been to [Trump] for over a week, so I don’t think it’s mandatory to take a test. I feel comfortable where I am, I am very aware of my body and my symptoms. I feel good, we have a lot of power and we’re here all over the country to protect American agriculture,” Perdue said last week after Trump’s diagnosis, speaking in Wisconsin.
Ross, 82, tenth on the list, told Bloomberg TV that he tested negative on Monday and that his branch was making many remote paintings about the pandemic.