Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., on Monday introduced a resolution that would call on President Joe Biden’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a first step in the process of removing the president from office.
Buck’s resolution presses Vice President Kamala Harris to convene Joe Biden’s Cabinet and “declare what is obvious to a horrified Nation: That the President is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office.”
The move comes as a surprise: Buck has been steadfast against a Biden impeachment inquiry, and twice voted against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the administration’s failures to secure the southern border with Mexico.
The Washington Examiner quoted a statement from Buck on the matter: “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.
“The societal challenges and security threats our country faces are innumerable and require a chief executive with both strong mental and physical faculties. The time has come for the vice president and the Cabinet to put our country first and move forward on invoking the 25th Amendment.”
Beyond a string of verbal gaffes and physical stumbles, Buck cited the report of special counsel Robert Hur, who was probing Biden’s handling of classified documents found at his Delaware home. Although Hur opted against bringing charges against Biden over the matter, he set off a firestorm by describing the president’s age and fitness in critical terms. He said he wouldn’t bring charges against Biden, in part, because of his likely portrayal in court as “a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
Other recent gaffes: Biden twice over the last month has cited recent conversations with former world leaders who are long dead (France’s Francois Mitterand; Germany’s Helmut Kohl) and confused the president of Egypt (Abdel Fattah El-Sisi) with that of Mexico (Andrés Manuel López Obrador). In fact, it was during a prime-time press conference when he asserted “my memory is fine” that he confused El-Sisi with Obrador.
No sitting president has ever been removed via the 25th Amendment. First, it would take a majority of Cabinet members to support it and the agreement of Harris. Then it would take a two-thirds vote of both chambers of Congress to remove Biden and name Harris president.
A host of Republicans have called for invoking the 25th Amendment in the direct aftermath of the Hur report.
Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging him to explore invoking the 25th Amendment.
Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., all took to social media to urge its use earlier this month. Separately, GOP Reps. Mary Miller R-Ill., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Mike Collins, R-Ga., all did the same.
None of them, however, put forth a resolution.
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