House speaker Nancy Pelosi is the only Democrat in the current line of succession.
Topline: Trump’s impeachment inquiry has only just begun. But if he’s removed from office or otherwise can’t perform his duties, there’s a list of officials—some implicated in the Ukraine scandal—who can step in.
- The list is 18 people long, and it’s known as the presidential line of succession.
- Vice President Mike Pence is next in line for the presidency after Trump.
- Second in line is House speaker Nancy Pelosi. She’s the only Democrat in the current line of succession.
- Transportation secretary Elaine Chao is 14th in line, but she’s ineligible to fill in as president. She was born in Taiwan, and the president is required to be U.S.-born.
- Several officials in the line of succession have been implicated in the Ukraine scandal, the heart of the impeachment inquiry. They are: Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Bill Barr and Rick Perry.
- Perry is rumored to be leaving his post by the end of November, according to reports.
Here’s the latest presidential line of succession:
- Vice President: Mike Pence
- Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nancy Pelosi
- President Pro Tempore of the Senate: Chuck Grassley
- Secretary of State: Mike Pompeo
- Secretary of the Treasury: Steven Mnuchin
- Secretary of Defense: Mark Esper
- U.S. Attorney General: Bill Barr
- Secretary of the Interior: David Bernhardt
- Secretary of Agriculture: Sonny Perdue
- Secretary of Commerce: Wilbur Ross
- Secretary of Labor: Eugene Scalia
- Secretary of Health and Human Services: Alex Azar
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Ben Carson
- Secretary of Transportation: Elaine Chao (ineligible)
- Secretary of Energy: Rick Perry
- Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos
- Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Robert Wilkie
- Secretary of Homeland Security: Kevin McAleenan (acting)
What to watch for: Whether Congress makes any moves to change the line of succession. An op-ed writer on the Bloomberg site suggested that Democrats might want to remove Pelosi so it doesn’t appear that they’re working to have the president succeeded by a Democrat.
What we don’t know: Whether Pence, Pompeo, Barr or Perry will become further embroiled in the impeachment inquiry.
Key background: In 1792, the Presidential Succession Act deemed the Senate’s president pro tempore as next in line after the vice president. Then, in 1886, Congress expanded the succession list by adding Cabinet members. In 1947, President Harry Truman signed a new version of the Presidential Succession Act, making the House Speaker second in line. In 2006, with the passage of the Patriot Act, the Homeland Security secretary was made 18th in line.
Tangent: So far, eight vice presidents have assumed the presidency after the incumbent died. And only one VP became president after a resignation—Gerald Ford after Richard Nixon’s, to be exact.
