2 Cabinet members wanted to oust Trump with the 25th Amendment, former FBI counsel says

The 25th Amendment threats were coming from inside the White House.

Since the beginnings of President Trump's term, several reports have suggested a handful of administration officials have looked for ways to oust him. Those conversations often turned to the 25th Amendment — something even two Cabinet officials were apparently onboard with invoking, former FBI general counsel James Baker told members of Congress in a closed-door interview late last year.

In October, Baker sat down to discuss the FBI's investigation into 2016 election interference. Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) released a transcript of that interview on Tuesday, revealing how Baker, in the interview, confirmed reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had discussed wearing a wire to record President Trump. That idea was "quickly dismissed," Baker said, before going to to say he heard from Rosenstein that "two members of the Cabinet" were "willing to" invoke the 25th Amendment.

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The 25th Amendment spells out how a majority of Cabinet secretaries can oust a president they deem unfit to serve. Several former Trump staffers — namely short-lived aide Omarosa Manigault Newman — have said it was a constant topic of discussion and jokes within the White House. Yet judging by what Baker heard, some of Trump's top officials took the amendment's powers very seriously.