Rep. Claudia Tenney, New York Republican, has asked a member of President Biden’s Cabinet to explore invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
Fox News Digital reported Thursday evening that it had obtained a letter from Ms. Tenney to Attorney General Merrick Garland about her “grave concerns” following Special Counsel Robert Hur’s “alarming” report about Mr. Biden.
While Mr. Hur did not recommend charging the president, his basis for not doing so included Mr. Biden’s “poor memory” and the report cited many examples of memory lapses of basic details while being interviewed.
If he’s not “mentally competent to stand trial,” Ms. Tenney wrote in her letter to Mr. Garland, then he “most seemingly lacks the ability to execute his presidential responsibilities.”
The Constitution has a remedy for an incapacitated president, she noted.
“So it is incumbent upon you to explore proceedings to remove the President pursuant to the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Ms. Tenney wrote to Mr. Garland.
“President Biden needs to be charged, or he needs to be removed,” she said. “There is no middle ground.”
While the 25th Amendment has a provision that lets a president temporarily hand over his duties to the vice president — it has been used a few times for planned presidential surgeries — it also has a provision for involuntary removal.
A note to Congress can remove a president “whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide … their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
Mr. Garland, as head of the Justice Department, is one of those heads of executive departments.
That would result in Acting President Kamala Harris, though Section Four also outlines procedures for what happens if a president disputes his Cabinet and vice president’s declaration.