- President Trump's diagnosishas also led to questions,

what happens if he is unableto perform his duties?

For more on this, we're joined

by Regent UniversityConstitutional Law Professor

Brad Jacob, Professor Jacob,

thank you so much forjoining us on the broadcast.

So what happens if the Presidentcannot perform his job?

- Well, the constitutionprovides coverage for that.

The Vice President is able to take over,

and serve as acting president.

Now, if the President acknowledgesthat he is incapacitated,

it's easy, he simply notifies Congress

that he can't serve for the time being.

And the Vice Presidentbecomes acting president,

until the Presidentsays, "I'm ready again."

It's trickier if the President

does not want to give up power.

Then it can be done by the Vice President,

and the Cabinet, butthat has a possibility

of becoming a powerstruggle with the President,

that could eventuallybe resolved by Congress.

- [George] How bad would thePresident's health have to get

for him to sign over responsibilities

to the Vice President?

- Well, I mean, it's reallynot a legal question.

It's a question of whether he believes

he is capable of doing his job,

or whether the VicePresident and the Cabinet

believe he's capable of doing his job.

And it could be very short term,

just the illness has got him knocked out.

If the president goes in for surgery,

and is gonna be under general anesthesia,

the Vice President maybecome acting president

for a few hours.

It could go for longer, but basically,

any situation where he'sunable to perform his duties

is potentially a situationwhere the Vice President

might have to take over.

- Yeah, this all comes, Professor Jacob,

from the 25th Amendment tothe Constitution, as we know.

When was this enacted, and why?

- (laughing) I don'tremember the year, I'm sorry.

It's been a few yearsthat it's been in there.

This procedure has beenused by other presidents,

again, for very short term things,

where they have been in thehospital, been in surgery.

There's been a situation.

So it's not a new provision,the 25th Amendment.

It could be used again.

- Yeah, the next debateis in just 13 days,

and the election, as you know, in 32 days.

Any indication of how this will affect

the President's campaign,and possibly the election?

- Well, it appears to put a real damper

on his ability to campaign.

I presume he's going to beisolated in the White House.

And so any publicevents, any more debates,

until he is cleared to be back out again,

they're not gonna happen.

He can do what he can do over TV,

as long as his health permits it,

as long as his symptoms aren't too great.

This could be a mess for the election.

I guess the worst possible outcome,

in the sense of the confusion,

would be if he died before the election.

That would really throwthings into a mess.

Let's pray that doesn't happen.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Professor Jacob, thankyou so much for joining us

on the broadcast, Professor Brad Jacob,

professor at RegentUniversity, Constitutional Law.

Be sure to stay with "CBNNews" for continuing coverage

on President Trump's COVID-19 recovery,

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