A House Republican is calling on Vice President Kamala Harris to get a majority of the Cabinet to remove President Joe Biden and from office amid concerns about his age and ability to lead effectively by invoking a never-before-used section of the 25th Amendment.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), who has criticized the impeachment inquiry against Biden and is not seeking re-election in 2024, announced the long-shot bid on Monday with a statement that referenced the report by special counsel Robert Hur on Biden’s handling of classified documents that documents how the president exhibited memory problems.
“The Hur report officially addressed what many Americans have long witnessed with their own eyes — that President Biden is no longer fit to successfully discharge the critical duties of his office. Numerous instances were articulated in the report, and have played out in full public view, showing President Biden’s apparent cognitive decline and lack of mental stamina,” Buck said.
“The societal challenges and security threats our country faces are innumerable and require a chief executive with both strong mental and physical faculties,” he added. “The time has come for the vice president and the Cabinet to put our country first and move forward on invoking the 25th Amendment.”
The resolution mentions findings in Hur’s report and notes that Biden is the oldest sitting president in U.S. history at the age of 81. It mentions a litany of well-documented incidents in which Biden has appeared confused or lost, tripped or fallen over, and struggled to come up with a correct name.
Also noted in the resolution is how, pursuant to Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, Biden serves as commander in chief and at all times has access to the “nuclear football” that enables the president to transmit orders to military leaders to launch a nuclear strike and is taken with responding to emergencies.
Positing that the president’s responsibilities to protect the United States “necessitate a leader who is of sound mind,” the resolution urges Harris “immediately” use her powers under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to gather the Cabinet “to declare what is obvious to a horrified Nation: That the president is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office.”
Buck’s resolution ends by calling on Harris to then “transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate notice that she will immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”
It was not immediately clear whether the resolution would get a vote in the House, but as Biden runs for re-election, polls have shown rising concerns about his age and ability to serve a second term.
Harris, who like Biden has low approval numbers, is also seeking a second term as vice president on his ticket. In recent months, Harris has indicated that she is ready to become president if necessary, but has also defended Biden’s mental state.
“I spend a lot of time with President Biden, be it in the Oval Office, in the Situation Room, and other places,” Harris told ABC News in January. “He is extraordinarily smart. He has the ability to see around the corner in terms of what might be the challenges we face as a nation, or globally.”