Several prominent Democratic lawmakers who have called for invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to impeach former President Trump while he is still in office have remained silent on whether the same amendment should be used to impeach President Biden, as some Republican lawmakers have suggested.
Fox News Digital reached out to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), but all declined to comment on whether the 25th Amendment should apply in the case of President Biden, as they suggested it should in the case of former President Trump.
Article 4 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution gives the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet the power to determine whether the president is fit to continue in office.
Throughout Trump’s term in office, Democrats have repeatedly called on the president to invoke the 25th Amendment for a variety of reasons, including the coronavirus, Trump’s competency and the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Video reveals media outlets invoked the 25th Amendment hundreds of times during the Trump administration
From left: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). (Getty Images)
“It’s long past time,” Waters says. He told MSNBC When asked in October 2020 whether it was time to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, given President Trump’s “bizarre and strange behavior” and “personal spreading of the virus,” he responded:
That same month, ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Raskin and Pelosi The bill was submitted It would set up a committee to involve Congress in the process of removing the president if he becomes “incapacitated.”
“This is not about President Trump.” Pelosi “He will be judged by the voters, but it shows we need to create a process for future presidents,” he said at a news conference at the time.
Cornell Law Professor Calls for Invoking 25th Amendment Following Biden Debate Performance
President Biden leaves CNN’s presidential debate with First Lady Jill Biden at CNN Studios in Atlanta on Thursday. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“Congress has a constitutional duty to establish procedures for determining presidential incapacity and party affiliation. This bill fulfills this duty by establishing a standing committee of former senior executive branch officials and medical experts, selected on a bipartisan basis from both houses of Congress. A president’s fitness to serve must be determined by science and facts. This law would apply to future presidents, but the current president’s health status would underscore the need to act,” she said.
The bill is a reintroduction of the same bill Raskin introduced in 2017.
“Since January, President Trump has derailed our country at every turn,” Raskin said in a 2017 speech. press release.
“For the safety of our people and the security of our republic, we must establish the ‘institutions’ required by the 25th Amendment. A president can fire his entire cabinet for asking the same questions tens of millions of Americans are asking at the dinner table, but he cannot fire a constitutionally established Congress or expert body. A presidential competency oversight committee is essential, urgently needed and vital in a time of unprecedented turmoil.”
In the wake of the Jan. 6 riot, Pelosi, Raskin, Jayapal and all other House Democrats voted in favor of a resolution calling on Vice President Pence to “declare President Donald J. Trump unable to perform the duties of his office and immediately assume powers as Acting President.”
“We demand that Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet fulfill their constitutional duty to finally put America first and invoke the 25th Amendment to end President Trump’s reign of terror and total control over our military,” Jayapal said. “If the vice president continues to put this lawless and dangerous president above the people, the House of Representatives must urgently join my call and once again impeach President Donald Trump.”
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According to a report from Axios, Americans were shocked by President Biden’s performance in the debate because they are used to seeing him as more competent. (Getty Images)
The movement is Schumer supportsHe said Trump was “dangerous and should no longer hold office.”
After Biden’s debate performance was widely panned and some Democrats called for him to drop out of the race, several Republicans have floated the idea of invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution over concerns about Biden’s mental competency.
“The past three years have made it painfully clear that the president in office is in rapid decline,” said Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Louisiana. said Wednesday.
“As a nation of Christian faith, we as people must respect our elders and protect them from unnecessary suffering and distress. The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution allows America to respond to this moment of crisis by peacefully removing President Biden from the most powerful elected position in the world. This is the right thing to do and the Christian thing to do.”
Both the White House and the Biden campaign have maintained that Biden is not dropping out of the race and is fit to serve as president.
