Americas

Cabinet should consider 25th Amendment to remove Biden: House speaker

'Our adversaries see the weakness in this White House as we all do. I take no pleasure in saying that. I think this is a very dangerous situation,' says Mike Johnson

Diyar Guldogan  | 28.06.2024 - Update : 29.06.2024
Cabinet should consider 25th Amendment to remove Biden: House speaker

WASHINGTON 

The Cabinet should consider using the 25th Amendment to remove US President Joe Biden from office in light of his "weak" debate performance with ex-leader Donald Trump, House speaker said on Friday.

"There’s a lot of people asking about invoking the 25th Amendment right now, because this is an alarming situation," Mike Johnson told reporters.

His remarks came after Biden and Trump took the stage on Thursday night for the first presidential debate. The two men spoke on the main issues but also got personal, with Biden repeatedly stumbling and losing his train of thought.

"Our adversaries see the weakness in this White House as we all do. I take no pleasure in saying that. I think this is a very dangerous situation," Johnson said.

Stressing that the Democrats are "panicking" after Biden’s performance, he said: "I would be panicking too if I were a Democrat today and that was my nominee. I think they know they have a serious problem.”

"But it’s not just political. It’s not just the Democratic Party. It’s the entire country. We have a serious problem here, because we have a president who, by all appearances, is not up to the task, and these are very dangerous times. This is a very serious moment in American history," he added.

Meanwhile, Rep. Chip Roy filed a resolution calling on Vice President Kamala Harris to convene the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and exercise powers as acting president.

Roy's resolution said Biden "has repeatedly and publicly demonstrated an inability to discharge the powers and duties of the presidency, including, among others, the powers and duties of the Commander-in-Chief."

According to the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet may vote to declare a president "unable to discharge the powers and the duties of his office" and give the vice president the duties of acting president.

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