Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) has called on President Biden’s cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to potentially remove him from office following a debate performance that raised concerns across the political spectrum. Tillis, a member of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) leadership team, expressed his concerns in a letter to the Senate GOP conference, emphasizing the necessity of discussing the president’s ability to serve.
Tillis argued that if Biden cannot step aside on his own, the cabinet should intervene. He questioned Biden’s ability to perform under pressure, especially during a national security crisis, given his performance after weeks of preparation. “If Biden cannot speak coherently, articulate his policies, and is unfit to perform after weeks of preparation, how will he perform when America is truly tested by a national security crisis, the kind of historic, high-stakes test his predecessors have been confronted with?” Tillis wrote.
The senator acknowledged Biden as a decent man who cares about the country but pointed out that time catches up with everyone. He criticized the White House for not being as truthful or transparent about Biden’s condition as it should have been. “Biden is unfit to continue serving as leader of the free world. While he is already well on track to lose the election in November, a lot can still go wrong between now and January 20, 2025,” Tillis added.
Tillis urged Biden to step aside for the sake of the country. He suggested that if Biden is unaware of his own unfitness to continue serving, the cabinet should consider invoking the 25th Amendment, which allows the cabinet to vote to transfer powers and authorities from the President to the Vice President.
Tillis is known for his bipartisan approach and has been involved in several key discussions throughout Biden’s term. He is the first senator to issue such a call post-debate. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also suggested that the cabinet consider the 25th Amendment option but did not go as far as Tillis. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) announced plans to file a resolution calling on Vice President Harris and the Cabinet to declare Biden incapable of fulfilling his presidential duties.
Despite these calls, Biden’s campaign showed no signs of slowing down. At a rally in North Carolina, Biden acknowledged his slowing pace and debate performance but emphasized his ability to get things done. “Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to,” Biden said at the rally in Raleigh. “But I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know what millions of Americans know: When you get knocked down, you get back up.”
Tillis, however, remained unconvinced. He told The Hill that the rally did nothing to assuage his fears and that the debate was more indicative of who he believes the president is right now. He raised concerns about how Biden could handle an “existential threat in the Situation Room.” “It was painful, and I truly feel bad for President Biden,” Tillis wrote. “Cognitive and physical decline is a normal part of the aging process for many people. But displaying that decline in front of hundreds of millions of Americans is most certainly not normal, especially when your day job is serving as the nation’s commander-in-chief.”
The 25th Amendment to the Constitution allows the vice president and a majority of Cabinet members to vote to declare a commander in chief “unable to discharge the powers and the duties of his office” and transfer the duties of the president to the vice president. If the president disputes his capacity to fulfill the duties of the office, the question would go to Congress. Lawmakers could decide to give the vice president the powers of the presidency via a two-thirds vote of both the Senate and House.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) reiterated his concerns in a letter to his Senate Republican colleagues, suggesting that Biden should step aside “for the sake of the country.” He emphasized that if Biden is “unaware of his own unfitness to continue serving,” the Cabinet should consider invoking the 25th Amendment to transfer authority to the vice president.
Tillis described watching the presidential debate as “painful” and expressed sympathy for Biden. He acknowledged that physical and cognitive decline is a normal part of aging but argued that displaying it on a debate stage is not normal. His call echoes those made by some Republicans in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who filed a resolution to compel Vice President Kamala Harris to convene the Cabinet and activate Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare Biden “incapable of executing the duties of his office.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also urged Cabinet members to “search their hearts” and consider whether the president is capable of carrying out the remainder of his term. “If Biden cannot speak coherently, articulate his policies, and is unfit to perform after weeks of preparation, how will he perform when America is truly tested by a national security crisis, the kind of historic, high-stakes test his predecessors have been confronted with?” Tillis wrote, adding that he believes the president is “a decent man who cares about the country.”
However, Tillis concluded that Biden is “unfit to continue serving as leader of the free world.” Harris and Cabinet members have faced calls to invoke the 25th Amendment before. When special counsel Robert Hur released his report on Biden’s handling of classified documents in February, he described the president as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” prompting many Republicans in Congress to suggest removing him from office.
Biden acknowledged his age and its effects on his debate performance at the rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, saying, “I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done, and I know like millions of Americans know: When you get knocked down, you get back up.”
Biden is scheduled to meet presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on the debate stage once again on Sept. 10.
Source: The Hill, Washington Examiner
