California Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday took the unprecedented step of asking the chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff about ‘available precautions’ to prevent President Trump from launching military action abroad or using his sole authority to launch nuclear weapons in recent days. of his term.
In a call to the chairman, Genl. Mark A. Milley, it seems that me. Pelosi wants the Pentagon leadership Mr. Trump must remove from his powers as commander-in-chief. This can be achieved by ignoring or delaying the president’s orders by asking if they were issued legally.
But General Milley does not appear to have made any commitments. Shortly after the cabinet called on the 25th amendment or Mr. Trump removed by indictment in the House and conviction in the Senate, it is unconstitutional to defy legal orders of the Commander-in-Chief.
The request of Ms. Pelosi, who she announced to the Democratic caucus as an attempt to prevent “an unaffiliated president” from using the core codes, was in politics to make a second accusation of Mr. To seek Trump.
Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for General Milley, confirmed that the call had taken place with the speaker, but described it as informative. “He answered her questions about the process of nuclear command,” he said.
But some Defense Department officials clearly believed they were being asked to act outside the legal authority of the 25th Amendment and saw it as more evidence of a broken political system. They said some political leaders are trying to get the Pentagon to work of congressional and cabinet secretaries, who have legitimate options to remove a president.
Mr. Trump, it was noted, is still the commander-in-chief; unless he is removed, the army is obliged to follow its lawful orders. Although military officials may refuse to carry out orders they deem illegal, or may delay the process by sending orders for thorough legal investigation, they may not remove the president from the commando chain. Officials said it would amount to a military coup.
But two former government officials with close ties to the National Security Agency have said they have seen signs that Trump’s aides, in the words of one, are ‘moving around’ the president by not addressing issues that could move him to join the military does not move action.
The one issue that worries officials most is Iran’s announcement that it has begun enriching uranium to 20 percent pure – close to the quality of making a bomb. In December, Mr. Trump asked for military options that could be taken in response to Iran’s increasing nuclear fuel production, but he was talked about by a number of top officials, including General Milley and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
In a remark to her Democratic majority, Ms. Pelosi said she had asked General Milley about ‘available precautions’ to prevent an unstable president from launching military hostilities or gaining access to the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike. The situation of this intransigent president could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything in our power to protect the American people from its unbalanced attack on our country and our democracy. ‘
The presidential transition
Other Democrats took up the theme. “The president must be removed,” said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont. “I hate it when I think he has access to nuclear weapons there.”
This was not the first time that the case has surfaced in American history, or in respect of Mr. Trump does not.
In the last days of Richard M. Nixon’s presidency, Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger quietly issued a set of orders that if Mr. Nixon wanted to move or use nuclear weapons, commanders had to address the request to him or the Secretary of State. Henry A. Kissinger. Mr. Schlesinger, who only described his actions after Mr. Nixon left office, saying he was worried the president would drink, or that he might succeed.
Michael Beschloss, the presidential historian, said Mr. Schlesinger told him a number of years ago that ‘he was worried about the physical and emotional state of Mr. Nixon and wanted to make sure there was no danger of the nuclear arsenal being misused. ‘
Mr Schlesinger passed away in 2014; Mr. Kissinger, 97, said several years ago that he was not aware of such orders.
In the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton also raised the issue of Mr. Trump’s suitability to lead the nuclear arsenal. “Imagine him facing a real crisis in the Oval Office,” she said in her speech at the Democratic National Convention. “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
During his presidency, Mr. Trump pointed out that he only uses nuclear weapons once: when he was in his first fight with Kim Jong-un of North Korea in 2017. He “threatened fire and rage like the world has never seen before” and later told their assistants. that he thought the threat mr. Kim forced diplomacy – though the series of three meetings with the North Korean leader led to the disarmament he predicted.
Now, at the end of mr. Trump’s presidency, raises Mrs. Pelosi once again haunts an unstable leader as part of her attempt to put Republicans under pressure to take part in a second indictment – even if there is no time for a Senate hearing.
Peter D. Feaver, a professor of political science at Duke University who studied the armed forces, said that the military, in theory, Mr. Trump’s access to the nuclear codes could be physically limited because it provides the command, control and communication that the president has to the nuclear arsenal. A military assistant with the so-called nuclear football containing the launch codes is at all times just a foot away from the president.
But legally, the military cannot deny the president access to the codes unless the 25th Amendment is activated.
“As long as President Trump is commander-in-chief, one of the top military missions is to maintain the connection between him and the nuclear arsenal, and I expect that is what they are doing and will continue until the inauguration day,” Mr Feaver said. .
“This is a good example of people asking the military to solve a problem that the military should not solve,” he added. “If Congress believes President Trump should not have access to the core codes, then Congress has the ability to make that happen through accusation.”
Mr. Feaver and other military specialists said Friday that Mr. Trump could not carry out orders to fire nuclear weapons alone due to a series of checks that are in place. The Pentagon, for example, may insist that orders be made in writing through the legal process before they are executed.
“Under the hypothesis that speaker Pelosi is imagining him, he wants to insist that the order coming through regular channels – and not by the president calling his iPhone – will feel like resisting an order, but it would actually insists it is legal, “he said. Said Feaver.
He said the Pentagon could ask for legal recourse from its own lawyers, the attorney general and others. “All of this will achieve functionally what she is asking for and will be legal,” he said. Feaver said.
David E. Sanger reports from Vermont and Eric Schmitt from Washington. Helene Cooper reported from Washington.