President Donald Trump is “not well at all mentally” and Congress needs to remove him under the 25th Amendment, former President George W. Bush’s chief ethics attorney Richard Painter said Monday.
Painter, speaking on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams,” accused Trump of “throwing a hissy fit” after Congress didn’t give him the $5 billion he initially requested for the wall and instead declared a national emergency along the U.S. southern border with Mexico.
TRUMP'S BORDER WALL JOINS 31 OTHER NATIONAL EMERGENCIES CURRENTLY IN EFFECT
Painter, whose "dumpster fire" ad during his failed U.S. Senate bid was widely mocked, called Trump’s actions illegal.
“I think we need to understand, though, why we’re in this situation. The president is not well at all mentally. I think he’s an extreme narcissist. He has been denied what he wants, his wall, and he is having a hissy fit. He is out of control, and he will not take no for an answer from Congress. And he’s going do this,” Painter said.
“He is going to insist on doing he is going to tear the country apart. It’s unconstitutional. It’s illegal. He is going to do enormous damage to the Republican Party which is going to split right down the middle over this, and we really need to keep in mind that this is because the president is not well,” he added.
Painter then asserted that because Trump allegedly believes Russian President Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence agencies makes him unwell and unfit for the office of president.
“He is not capable of doing the job. He does need to be removed under the 25th amendment, but he stocked his cabinet with people who are unwilling to do that, and Congress is apparently unwilling to even try to remove him through impeachment,” he said.
Trump on Friday declared a national emergency to complete construction of his multibillion-dollar along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Congress approved less than $1.4 billion in the budget deal for just 55 miles of new barriers and fencing. A senior administration official told Fox News that the White House plans to move $8 billion in currently appropriated or available funds toward construction of the wall.
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The move is expected to face a swift and forceful legal challenge that could stall the attempt in the courts for the near future. But the declaration and other money-moving plans allow Trump to continue to fight for border wall construction while also averting another partial government shutdown.
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