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With Biden Out of the Race, Sen. Schmitt Calls for Using the 25th Amendment

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  July 22, 2024 9:30 PM

President Joe Biden announced in a letter shared to X on Sunday that he was withdrawing from the presidential race. Although he appears to be finishing out his term, Republicans have called for him to step aside, and Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) is now calling for Vice President Kamala Harris and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Biden from office.

In one of the letters, Schmitt highlights the disastrous debate performance from June 27 between Biden and former and potentially future President Donald Trump. 

"Yesterday, July 21, 2024, President Biden announced he would no longer seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for the Presidency. This decision came after a weeks-long pressure campaign by the Democrat elite to push out President Biden following the first Presidential Debate—where those party elites’ dirty secret was unveiled, a truth those of us in Real America had known for years: President Biden is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, including, but not limited to, his ability to serve as the Commander in Chief of our armed forces," he begins his letter by writing. 

His footnotes reference not only the White House press briefing from July 2, where Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre doubled down on gaslighting about Biden's condition, but also George Orwell's "1984."

"If President Biden is willing to admit he is unable to continue to stand as the Democratic Party nominee for President after the primary process due to his health, he is unable to continue to serve as President until January 20, 2025," Schmitt goes on to write. 

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It is then that the senator goes on to make a request of the Cabinet member to whom the letter is addressed, writing in part "If President Biden is unwilling to resign, for the sake of our great nation, you must do your duty to relieve him of his constitutional powers and duties."

Schmitt makes a similar plea to conclude his letter. "For the sake of our nation, we cannot wait until January 20, 2025 for a mentally capable President. The stakes are too important given the domestic and foreign challenges the United States is currently facing. We cannot afford a part-time President. I urge you to fulfill your constitutional duty and relieve President Biden of his constitutional powers and duties," he writes. "If he is medically unable to be a candidate for Presidency (after he won the primary), then he is unable to... discharge the powers and duties of the Presidency today."

The vice president is also mentioned in the letter.  "While Vice President Harris may have deficiencies to effectively serve as the Acting President in any way that benefits the American people, she has not displayed a medical, incurable inability to discharge the powers and duties of the Presidency, unlike President Biden," Schmitt writes about Harris. 

The letter references other key points as well, including how the founders play a role. 

"The founders knew the 'necessity of an energetic Executive,'" Schmitt's letter mentions, citing "The Federalist No. 70" from Alexander Hamilton. "President Biden has admitted to needing an early bedtime and to having a limited work schedule. The American people and the American way of life cannot be guarded by a part-time President," he continues, citing reports from Axios and The New York Post.

Democrats also used "misapplied" arguments with concerns they supposedly had when Trump was in office, and how that comes back to bite the current Biden-Harris administration.

"'A president's fitness for office must be determined by science and facts,'" Schmitt's letter continued, as he mentions one quote attributed to then Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during a press conference from October 9, 2020. "'[W]e are reminded by the necessity of action by the health of the current President,'" Schmitt also mentions, using another quote. "These statements by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while misapplied to President Trump in 2020, ring true today. Former Speaker Pelosi likely has applied this line of thought to President Biden, causing her to mount an all-out pressure campaign to force President Biden out of his reelection campaign." The letter cites reporting from The Washington Post as to how Pelosi was involved to push Biden out. 

"There have been very troubling reports of a neurologist secretly visiting the White House physician earlier this year. There has also not been a full Cabinet meeting since October 2023, prompting additional concerns," the letter continues, citing reports from The New York Times and CNN. 

Still another point, towards the end, hits the Democrats over their process.

"It should be noted that the same Democrat elites that forced President Biden’s hand over the past several weeks did so long after the American people could see his inability to discharge his powers and duties. He should have never stood for reelection through the primaries," Schmitt also wrote. Rather than allow the voice of the people to speak through the democratic process of primary elections, the Democratic party insiders and megadonors will now have the opportunity to pick a new candidate in a crony-filled backroom of their convention. In 2024, the Democratic Party is anything but democratic."

Biden handily won the Democratic primaries, earning enough delegates in March. He faced little competition, as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ultimately decided to run as an Independent. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and Marianne Williamson also did not make much of an impression. 

"Joe Biden has decided he is not capable of being a candidate; in doing so, his admission also means he cannot serve as President. Therefore, it is in the best immediate interest of the safety of the United States for Joe Biden to resign from office or face removal under the 25th Amendment," Schmitt also said in a statement. "Under the Biden-Harris Administration, Americans are paying more for everything, have seen America’s standing on the world stage diminished, and have been pushed aside in favor of illegal aliens flooding across our Southern border. President of the United States is not a part time job nor is it a job for someone who has proven he is incapable of serving in the first place."

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) also called for using the 25th Amendment last month on June 28, the morning after that disastrous debate performance. 

Schmitt and Roy might not have been the only members willing to bring up the 25th Amendment, though. The New York Post mentioned such threats in their Monday report on how Biden looks to have been forced out as part of a "palace coup," with that June 27 debate playing a role. 

As that piece mentioned:

The well-orchestrated “palace coup” to stop the faltering president seeking re-election has been in place for weeks, but stubborn Biden fought against it every step of the way, a source close to the Biden family told The Post Monday.

The insider also made clear the anger, paranoia and frustration Biden displayed as the party elite circled around him and piled on the pressure.

Part of the “elaborate” strategy to remove Biden from the race – as he announced in a shock letter posted on X Sunday – was allowing him to debate Republican candidate Donald Trump last month on live TV in Atlanta.

During the car crash 90-minute debate, Biden appeared confused, slack-jawed and at one point he froze up, with his shocking performance turning the tide against him.

“That debate was a set-up to convince Democrats that he couldn’t run for president,” the source said Monday.

As calls for him to bow out mounted, Biden insisted he would continue, but party bigwigs threatened to invoke the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution.

The amendment allows for the vice president and members of the cabinet to declare he is unfit to serve and force him to step down, the source added.

Back in May, Biden memorably challenged Trump to that June 27 debate in a post over X which notably contained numerous cuts in a clip that was only 14 seconds long.