Following the release of a report by Special Counsel Robert Hur, who oversaw the investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents, a U.S. congresswoman is pushing to remove Biden from office.
The report shows that Biden had difficulty remembering numerous facts, including the period he was vice president, when his son, Beau, died, as previously covered by The Dallas Express. The report concluded that Biden should not be charged with a crime in connection to the classified documents, stating that a jury would likely perceive him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) said the 25th Amendment should be invoked because Biden is unfit for office.
“Biden is either mentally capable to stand trial & should be charged for mishandling classified documents as Vice President OR he is unfit to serve as President. There is no middle ground,” Tenney posted on X.
The 25th Amendment is the legal pathway to remove the elected president and replace them with the vice president. The amendment has four sections, three of which have been used a total of six times.
Section 1 is applied when a president dies, resigns, or is removed; the VP is made president. This was used when President Richard Nixon resigned. The amendment was only ratified after the death of President John F. Kennedy.
Section 2 allows the president to appoint a VP when the office is vacant, which has happened twice. Nixon’s VP, Spiro Agnew, resigned and was replaced by Gerald Ford. When Ford became president, he used Section 2 to appoint Nelson Rockefeller as VP.
Section 3 is used when a president is too sick to carry out their duties and was invoked after the assassination attempt of President Ronald Reagan and twice during the presidency of George W. Bush when he was anesthetized for colonoscopies.
Section 4, though widely discussed during numerous presidencies, including Trump’s, has never been invoked. It allows the VP to become president when the president is removed due to the inability to do the job.
Tenney said that it is time to use Section 4 based on the conclusions made in Hur’s report.
“He recited numerous instances in which President Biden exhibited dramatically compromised mental faculties and concluded that a jury would be likely to perceive President Biden as a sympathetic and forgetful old man,” Tenney wrote.
Biden refuted the conclusion that his memory was faulty on Thursday in a press conference covered by The Dallas Express.
“I’m well-meaning, and I’m an elderly man, and I know what the hell I’m doing,” Biden said. “I’ve been president. I put this country back on its feet. I don’t need his recommendation. My memory is fine.”
Former President Donald Trump has made his fair share of gaffes and mental slip-ups also, which only serves to fuel discussions about whether either of the elderly candidates is truly fit for office. A May 2023 poll found that more than 60% of Americans are concerned about Biden’s mental fitness, while slightly more than 50% held the same view of Trump.
Former White House advisor under President Trump, Stephen Miller, said the conclusions Hur’s report draws about Biden’s mental faculties raise the issue of whether he is fit to be president. Miller also sarcastically called Trump “the sharpest person in our lifetime to occupy the Oval Office.”
“The Department of Justice effectively said that President Joe Biden is less mentally fit and capable than the average inmate in San Quentin,” Miller said on Fox News. “It is a very low bar to be ruled mentally fit for trial. This is a national security disaster for the United States.”
