U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks to the media outside the U.S. Capitol after the House of Representatives voted to pass President Donald Trump’s sweeping spending and tax bill in Washington on July 3, 2025.
Ken Cedeno | reuters
The reluctance expressed by Democrats about removing President Donald Trump from office — even after he ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and attacked Iran without congressional approval — quickly dissipated after his latest threat to Iran.
President’s Tuesday Morning true social post, Who threatened that “an entire civilization will die tonight” and raised fears of nuclear war, began a chorus of calls for Trump’s impeachment or his removal through invocation of the 25th Amendment. On Tuesday evening, Trump and Iran announced a two-week ceasefire.
“This is a threat of genocide and deserves to be removed from office. The President’s mental abilities are deteriorating and he cannot be trusted,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said. Posted on x On Tuesday. “To everyone in the President’s chain of command: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders. This includes carrying out this threat.”
Trump’s ultimatum came ahead of a Tuesday night deadline for Iran to strike a deal with the US and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping channel for the world’s oil from the Persian Gulf.
Trump is unlikely to be removed from office, and members of his Cabinet – who must take an active role in invoking the 25th Amendment – regularly praise him publicly.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., posted
But the pause may not be enough to stop calls for his removal in Congress, where dozens of Democrats — and a few Republicans — censured Trump on Tuesday. Some, like Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said he should be impeached.
“When will it be enough for my Republican colleagues to get angry and remove him from office?” age Posted on X.
Articles of impeachment were introduced
Talk of the removal began even before the Tuesday Truth Social post, when Trump started the clock on Iran with an Easter Sunday post and threatened to attack Iranian bridges and power plants if the country did not make a deal soon.
Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., on MondayArticles of impeachment presentedCiting Trump’s “seizure of Congressional war power and his serial killing, war crimes, and piracy.”
Others, such as Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., argued that Section 4 of the 25th Amendment – which allows for the involuntary transfer of power if the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet declare the President incapacitated – should be implemented.
“If there is any life left in the United States Congress, every Member of Congress and Senator should call for Trump’s removal today on the basis of the 25th Amendment,” Khanna said in a video. Posted on x. “He’s threatening the total destruction of a civilization. He’s calling Iranians animals.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement late Tuesday that Trump should be removed from office by any means.
“If the Cabinet is unwilling to invoke the 25th Amendment and restore sanity, Republicans must reconvene Congress to end this war.”
The White House criticized the calls for Trump’s removal from office.
“This is pathetic,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in an email. “Democrats have been talking about impeaching President Trump even before he was sworn into office. Democrats in Congress are paranoid, weak, and ineffective, which is why their approval ratings are at historic lows.”
Impeached twice, never convicted by the Senate
Trump was impeached twice by the House in his first term, but not convicted in the Senate. Although there have been occasional efforts to impeach Trump in this Congress, none have received significant support from Democrats.
Now! 140 democrats in december voted To advance a measure from Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, to impeach Trump.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who has called for Trump’s impeachment several times, told CNBC in March that any such effort was off the table at least as long as Democrats are in the minority in both houses. And in an election year where Democrats are trying to pressure Trump and Republicans on the issue of affordability, many see impeachment as a losing issue.
“I think we’ll consider it when we take control of the House,” Waters said.
unlikely to be removed from office
But neither impeachment nor the use of the 25th Amendment is likely to happen at this time, as Republicans control both houses and there is no open rebellion within the Trump administration over the Iran war.
Section 4 of the 25th Amendment has never been invoked and would require the assent of the Vice President J.D. Vance, the Cabinet, and ultimately two-thirds of Congress, if Trump argues he is not incompetent.
Vance, who will assume the role of president if the 25th Amendment is invoked, praised Trump from a forum in Budapest on Tuesday, where he spoke in support of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Republicans criticize Iranian threat to civilization
Still, concern grew Tuesday even among Republicans and former Trump allies.
“The 25th Amendment!!! Not a single bomb has been dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization,” Green Posted on x.
Elected Republicans began publicly pushing back just hours after the president’s initial announcement that he would destroy Iranian civilization.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, broke sharply with Trump social media post Condemned his rhetoric on Tuesday.
Murkowski said, “The President’s threat that ‘an entire civilization will die tonight’ cannot be excused as an attempt to gain leverage in negotiations with Iran.” “This type of rhetoric is an affront to the ideals that our country has sought to uphold and promote around the world for nearly 250 years. It undermines our longstanding role as a global symbol of freedom and puts Americans in direct danger both abroad and at home.”
Murkowski, a moderate who has clashed with Trump in the past, said, “[E]ven everyone involved in this – especially the president and the leaders of Iran – must tone down their unprecedented saber-rattling before it is too late.”
Current Trump ally, Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., broke with the president during a Monday appearance on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast. Johnson said he expected Trump’s words to be “false.”
“I don’t want us to start destroying civilian infrastructure,” Johnson said. “We are not at war with the Iranian people. We are trying to liberate them.”
And Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, said in a statement Posted on x On Tuesday, Trump’s rhetoric was hit back and calls for his removal were put on hold.
“I do not support the destruction of ‘an entire civilization.’ We are not like that, and it is not consistent with the principles that have long guided America,” Moran wrote. “I do and will continue to support a strong national defense – one that is focused, disciplined, and firmly rooted in the safety and security of the American people. But, how we protect the lives of innocents is as important as how we deal with the enemy.”
Former Republican Representative Kevin Kiley of California recently became an independent post on x Said, “The United States does not destroy civilizations.”
He added, “Nor do we threaten to do so as any kind of negotiating tactic. We must all desire a future of freedom, security, and prosperity for the people of Iran.” He said Congress has a responsibility for oversight “in relation to ongoing military operations and our obligations under both U.S. law and international agreements to which we are signatories.”