Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) wrote a letter on Monday evening that he addressed to the entire Cabinet and to Vice President Kamala Harris They demanded that they invoke the 25th Amendment after a compromised Joe Biden abandoned his re-election bid.
He asked the obvious question that so many have been asking since Biden’s withdrawal: If he is not fit to be a candidate, how can he be fit to be the commander in chief of the military?
🚨Today I call on the Biden-Harris Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.
If Biden is not fit to be a candidate, he is not fit to be president.
My letter to Vice President Harris and the Biden-Harris Cabinet members. pic.twitter.com/woqh3JDAdJ
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) July 22, 2024
In an interviewSchmitt explained his position and said that the matter was actually plain: the president was incapable of fulfilling his duties.
“Joe Biden has decided he is not a candidate. His admission also means he cannot serve as president,” Schmitt told Fox News Digital. “Therefore, it is in the best immediate interest of the security of the United States that Joe Biden resign from office or be removed under the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
Schmitt said that under the Biden-Harris administration, Americans have “fought for financial survival, seen America’s standing on the world stage shrink, and been marginalized in favor of illegal immigrants streaming across our southern border.”
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for office, he is not fit to hold office,” Schmitt told Fox News Digital. “It’s that simple.”
Related: Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt calls for the restoration of “security” on the second night of the Republican National Convention
Schumer tries to justify his disregard for the Constitution in the impeachment trial, but is relegated to next week
Although many members of Congress have discussed the idea of extending the 25thth to Biden: He is the first to do this officially.
The amendment was designed to maintain order when a president dies, is killed, incapacitated, or removed.
The 25th Amendment to the Constitution, proposed by Congress and ratified by the states after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, sets forth the procedures for replacing the president or vice president in the event of death, impeachment, resignation, or inability to serve. In the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, these procedures were used, first when Gerald Ford replaced Spiro Agnew as vice president, then when he replaced Richard Nixon as president, and finally when Nelson Rockefeller filled the vacancy as vice president.
However, that does not mean that it would be simple to send Old Joe out to pasture. a lot of people who agreefirst and foremost Vice President and current presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Section 4 is the most controversial part of the 25th Amendment: It allows the vice president and either the Cabinet or a body created by Congress and authorized “by law” to jointly determine that “the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” This clause was created in the event that an incapacitated president cannot notify Congress that the vice president must act as president.
It also allows the president to protest such a decision, and two-thirds of Congress ultimately decides whether the president is unable to perform his duties due to a condition perceived by the vice president, and either the Cabinet or a panel authorized by Congress. So the Cabinet alone cannot prevent a president from exercising his powers if the president objects in writing. Congress would resolve that dispute, and the vice president is the primary actor in that process.
One thing we can say for sure: Biden’s decision has thrown the democratic world into turmoil, and there are a lot of intricate problems they need to solve. But Schmitt is right – either the president is compromised or he is not, and since he has apparently acknowledged this by withdrawing, how can he continue to lead our country?
It will be compelling to see how many other legislators follow this example or if this is just an isolated case.
