As Impeachment Looms, 350 Mental Health Professionals Warn Congress That Nuclear-Armed Trump 'A Threat to Safety of Our Nation'

A group of more than 350 health professionals—led by three preeminent psychiatrists—delivered a petition to the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday warning that President Donald Trump’s allegedly deteriorating mental state could result in “catastrophic outcomes,” including nuclear war, as the possibility of impeachment looms.

“We bear in mind that Donald Trump, as president, has the unfettered authority to launch nuclear weapons at any time for any reason,” psychiatrists Bandy Lee, John Zinner, and Jerrold Post said in a statement accompanying the petition. “Short of this calamity, there are many other dangers he can pose by the use, fueled by rage, of his assumed absolute executive authority, and by the loyalists who serve him.”

“His detachment from reality… his pathology is actually gaining ground more quickly than the ability of rational actors to bring up the facts.”
—Bandy Lee, Yale Medical School

The trio of mental health professionals implored the Judiciary Committee to “take these danger signs seriously and to constrain his destructive impulses” as the impeachment inquiry moves forward.

As Common Dreams reported Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced she has asked House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) to prepare articles of impeachment against Trump.

“We have come to the conclusion that there is an ethical obligation to warn of the danger that President Trump poses. We believe that there is a possibility of our stumbling into a war,” the statement reads. “Impeachment is the ultimate rebuke of a president, which President Trump has intensely feared, at least since the appointment of the special counsel.”

“We and many others are available to give important relevant recommendations as well as to educate the public so that we can maximize our collective safety,” the statement continues.

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To justify their efforts aimed at congressional lawmakers, the group of professionals cite specific portions of the American Psychiatric Association’s ethical guidelines, including a portion of Section 7.1 which says one of their duties is “to serve society by advising and consulting with the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches of the government.”

In an interview with The Independent on Wednesday, Lee said she feels it is necessary for mental health professionals to speak out about Trump because he is “ramping up his conspiracy theories” and “showing a great deal of cruelty and vindictiveness.”