Vice President Harris did not say whether she was confident President Biden was able to fulfill his duties as commander in chief at this time, as lawmakers called for invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
Biden withdrew from the presidential race on Sunday after his performance in the first presidential debate raised concerns about his health and mental state. After the sudden announcement, several lawmakers began questioning whether the president would be able to serve out the remainder of his term if he is unable to seek reelection.
Following the announcement, Harris was quickly named by the Democratic Party to succeed Biden in the 2024 presidential election, but some lawmakers, including Representative Nancy Mace (Lausanne College London), do not want to wait until January when Biden leaves office.
Fox News Digital asked Harris whether she thought Biden could serve as president, but her office did not respond to multiple attempts to reach her.
Republican senators call on Cabinet to invoke 25th Amendment after suspending Biden’s reelection campaign
Vice President Harris (Bizayev Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Biden has not been seen in public since last week, when he abruptly ended his reelection campaign in a written statement days after testing positive for COVID-19. Fox News Digital also asked whether the vice president knew where Biden had been in recent days and whether he had been in contact with him, but had not responded as of press time.
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Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) sent a letter to Harris on Monday saying Biden is ineligible to be president and urging her to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
President Biden (AP/Evan Vucci)
“Joe Biden has determined that he is incompetent to be a candidate, and by so acknowledging that, he is also incompetent to serve as president,” Schmidt wrote. “Accordingly, it is in the immediate best interest of the security of the United States that Joe Biden either resign or be removed from office under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.”
Mace said over the weekend that he plans to introduce a similar resolution.
“If Joe Biden is not cognitively capable of seeking reelection, then he is also not cognitively capable of serving the remainder of his term,” Mace said in a post on Twitter on Sunday. “Tomorrow, I will introduce a resolution calling on Kamala Harris to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and assume the duties of Acting President.”
Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) (Reuters/Mike Seeger)
Before Biden announced he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), suggested Congress should consider an amendment if the president decided not to run for reelection.
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“If Joe Biden can’t run for president, he can’t serve as president. If they want to remove him from office because he’s mentally incompetent, they can invoke the 25th Amendment,” Vance told Fox News in an interview with vice presidential nominee and former president Trump.
Biden has endorsed Harris for the Democratic nomination, and the vice president is reportedly hoping to put her name on the ballot as early as this week.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
