Following reports that President Donald Trump would like the United States to pull out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), at least one Democratic lawmaker is arguing that it could be grounds for impeachment if the president began the process to leave the military alliance.
"I think that act would be so destructive to our country and to our ability to protect the national security of every American that it would be a ground for some profound effort by our part, whether it is impeachment or the 25th Amendment," Representative Jackie Speier, of California, told CNN on Tuesday.
The 25th Amendment allows the vice president and the cabinet to remove the president if they deem them unable to "discharge the powers and duties of his office." If the president disputes the charge, two-thirds of the House and Senate must vote in favor.
Trump has repeatedly called into question the utility of the NATO alliance since he came to office. Meanwhile, the chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, Republican Senator Thom Tillis and Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, called on the Trump administration to renew its commitment to its NATO allies and noted that the Senate is ready to fight to keep the U.S. in NATO.
"NATO's broad bipartisan support in the Senate has been repeatedly expressed through the re-establishment of the Senate NATO Observer Group and through key votes underscoring the U.S. commitment to transatlantic relationships," Tillis and Shaheen said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
"Progress has been steadily made to ensure all NATO members are paying their fair share of dues, and it's imperative that the United States work with allies to strengthen the transatlantic bonds that have kept us safe for 70 years and modernize NATO to respond to hybrid warfare and other threats to global security. For these reasons, the Senate stands ready to defend NATO and we look forward to the next enlargement round with the hope of welcoming the Northern Republic of Macedonia into the Alliance," they continued.
Trump, however, has previously argued that he could make the U.S. leave NATO without congressional approval, just as he is pushing to build a wall on the southern border without support from Congress. Experts note that Congress would have no option but to go to court to challenge the constitutionality of the move. Meanwhile, many members of the administration who would be expected to put a check on Trump's instincts are rapidly vanishing.
"The checks within the administration have been arguably eroding with the departure of Mattis. I think Bolton and Pompeo are solid supporters of NATO but they are more likely to tell the president what he wants to hear," Alexander Vershbow, a former ambassador to Russia and former deputy secretary general of NATO, told Newsweek.
"This isn't a new position on his part. It goes back decades to when he first started promulgating his views on the international order. Without the adults in the room, the Europeans will be increasingly nervous," Vershbow added.
Russia, meanwhile, views NATO as a threat and would likely welcome a U.S. departure, which many experts note could threaten the existence of the military alliance that has been the bedrock of Western security since the end of World War II.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Cristina Maza is an award-winning journalist who has reported from countries such as Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, India, Lithuania, Serbia, and Turkey. ... Read more
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