It now appears that VP Pence and what's left of Trump's cabinet have little interest in removing Trump from power by invoking the 25th Amendment. And while support for a second impeachment is growing among Congressional Democrats, there does not (yet) appear to be enough support among Senate Republicans to actually remove Trump from office.
But there is still a way for House Democrats to at least constrain Trump's behavior over the next 12 days, to prevent some unhinged action that further endangers the country or our democracy. The necessity of this is clear, with Pelosi working with military leaders to try to ensure that Trump doesn’t launch a nuclear attack.
The mechanism would be to use their oversight authority: The House could issue a wide-ranging subpoena to White House staff requiring hourly reports of all activities of and interactions with the President. They could also require immediate notification if Trump makes any inquiry about military action. The reports would go to the relevant committees; if classified material is implicated, the report could go to Adam Schiff's Intelligence Committee.
Over two years ago, after Democrats won control of the House and the subpoena power that comes with it, I posted about the barriers Trump and his cronies would put up to enforcing Congressional subpoenas. As predicted then, and has played out over the last two years, Trump had ample means to stall and block subpoenas. But those barriers are coming down:
And a lightbulb switches on! The actual prosecution of contempt of Congress charges is the responsibility of a U.S. Attorney.
It's up to the Justice Department to prosecute charges of criminal contempt of Congress. And there will soon be a new Justice Department. So the House could authorize the committees—or possibly the Chairs themselves—to hold White House staff in contempt if any report deadlines are missed or if information is incomplete, and refer contempt charges to the DOJ. And while Biden has been reluctant to comment on executive actions to be taken before his term begins, hopefully he or one of his DOJ appointees would at least make a statement that they would enforce the subpoenas to help Congress keep tabs on Trump in the last days of his Presidency.
And of course, the House should proceed with passing Articles of Impeachment as soon as possible. That way, they’re teed up for the Senate to act upon if reports from the White House indicate that the danger posed by Trump to the republic is increasing.