Senator Asks Cabinet to Consider Invoking 25th Amendment

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) wrote a letter to his Senate Republican colleagues on Friday about the implications of President Joe Biden’s performance in Thursday’s debate.

In the letter obtained by the HillTillis suggested that Biden, 81, should step down “for the good of the country” and that if he is “not aware of his own unfitness to continue to serve,” the Cabinet should consider invoking the 25th Amendment, under which members can vote to transfer authority to the vice president.

Tillis wrote that watching the presidential debate “was painful, and I feel really bad for President Biden.” The senator said physical and cognitive decline “is a normal part of the aging process for many people” but showing it on a debate stage “is certainly not normal.”

The call echoes those made by some Republicans in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who has introduced a resolution that would require Vice President Kamala Harris to convene the Cabinet and activate Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare Biden “unable to execute the duties of his office.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also asked Cabinet members to “search their hearts” and determine whether the president is capable of serving out the remainder of his term.

“If Biden cannot speak coherently, articulate his policies, and is unable to play his role after weeks of preparation, how will he behave when America is truly tested by a crisis national security, the kind of historic, high-stakes test his predecessors faced? ” Tillis wrote, adding that he thinks the president is “a decent man who cares about the country.”

However, Tillis determined, Biden is “unfit to continue serving as leader of the free world.”

Harris and Cabinet members have already been called upon to invoke the 25th Amendment. When special counsel Robert Hur released his report on Biden’s handling of classified materials in February, he described the president as “an elderly, friendly, well-meaning man with a poor memory,” prompting many Republicans to Congress to suggest removing him from office.

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The president acknowledged that his age had affected his performance in the next day’s debate at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. He said: “I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done, and I know, as millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up.”

Biden is expected to meet presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump again on the debate stage on September 10.