House Speaker Mike Johnson is under pressure to investigate whether Democrats threatened to remove Joe Biden from office under the 25th Amendment if he did not drop out of the 2024 race.
The 25th Amendment, which outlines presidential succession if the commander in chief is unable to fulfill his duties, has never been used before.
But as concerns continue about the president’s capacity and mental state, Republicans have suggested using a never-before-seen measure to oust Biden from the Oval Office.
Earlier this week, Johnson revealed he was considering introducing a 25th Amendment resolution to the House floor to force Harris to expel Biden.
Trump, however, spoke out against the move, saying Harris would be “worse” than Biden, which could be enough to kill any momentum behind the resolution.
Now, the conservative group American Accountability Foundation (AAF) is demanding that Johnson investigate whether Democrats pressured Biden to abandon his presidential bid using the 25th Amendment.
Vice President Kamala Harris is suspected of blackmailing President Joe Biden into not running for reelection. The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) is demanding that House Speaker Mike Johnson investigate whether Harris threatened Biden with invoking the 25th Amendment, leading him to cancel his campaign and endorse her.
“I am writing today to request that you immediately direct the Judiciary Committee and the Oversight and Accountability Committee to investigate credible allegations that Vice President Harris may have extorted President Biden by threatening to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to end his candidacy for president,” AAF President Thomas Jones wrote to Johnson.
‘There have been multiple reports that Democratic Party leaders, including the vice president, used the threat of invoking the provisions of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to force President Biden to end his campaign.’
Jones argues in the memo that there may be evidence that Harris blackmailed Biden into giving up his bid to be the Democratic presidential nominee.
‘As the plain language makes clear, the path to removing President Biden from office under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment runs clearly through the Office of the Vice President and the President’s Cabinet.’
‘Simply put, if Vice President Harris were able to credibly muster the support of eight members of the President’s Cabinet (a majority of all fifteen executive departments), she could present an ultimatum to the President forcing him to end his campaign and endorse her candidacy, or face being removed from office, forever cementing his legacy as a president mentally unfit to lead the country.’
“Such a demand from the vice president and any of his Cabinet supporters would have been, without question, extortion,” Jones continued.
The AAF letter comes at a time when Republicans are divided over whether the 25th Amendment should be invoked to remove Biden from office.
But that impulse can now be repressed.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is under pressure to investigate whether President Joe Biden was blackmailed into abandoning his re-election campaign
President Joe Biden delivers a speech from the Oval Office about his canceled campaign. His son, Hunter Biden, sits in a chair out of the camera’s view.
Former President Donald Trump said Thursday he is against his party’s push to use the amendment.
“I don’t think they should use the 25th Amendment,” he said.
“My point is that the world is in a very dangerous place. I think if (Biden) goes, (Kamala) will take over and be worse than he was,” Trump said on Fox & Friends, calling her a “San Francisco radical.”
Despite Trump’s warning, some Republicans continue to insist that the never-before-used amendment must be invoked immediately to remove Biden from office.
“I wrote a letter and sent it to Kamala Harris asking her to invoke the 25th Amendment,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., told DailyMail.com.
“I have a little book on my desk. It’s called the Constitution. And she’s the vice president of the United States and the president of the United States is mentally and physically compromised.”
“Therefore, it is her duty to invoke the 25th Amendment, assemble the Cabinet, write a letter, present it to Joe Biden and in that millisecond she becomes the acting president of the United States.”
He said Biden is “pretending” to be president and that he “would rather have an interim president than him pretending.”
Johnson previously said
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Republican from Wisconsin and former Navy SEAL, told DailyMail.com that he believes the 25th Amendment should be invoked for national security reasons. He also revealed that he personally sent a letter to Vice President Kamala Harris to invoke the measure.
Biden’s speech Wednesday night was his first time addressing the nation since he dropped out of his reelection bid and contracted COVID last week.
Van Orden says he still supports Trump, but adds: “I’m looking at this from a national security perspective.”
Other rank-and-file Republicans, however, sided with Trump.
“I think the (former) president’s position is my position,” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., told DailyMail.com.
“That’s a Kamala Harris question. It’s not for us,” Donalds continued.
Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee, agreed with Donald and Trump.
“It will not pass the test” Senate. So I don’t know if it’s necessary.
“I don’t think the president has the capacity to govern. And he hasn’t been in power for very long and the media has completely covered him up.”
“Everyone in Washington is talking about it, Democrats and Republicans.”
Several Republicans, including Johnson, have already talked about taking steps to push through the amendment effort.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said he shares Trump’s view that the amendment should not be used to oust Biden.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., was more pragmatic, saying that while Biden is unfit for office, the Senate would never vote to use the 25th Amendment.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, first introduced a resolution just after the debate calling on Harris “to convene the Cabinet and declare President Joe Biden unable to carry out his duties as Commander in Chief.”
And House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Monday that he was still considering whether to introduce the resolution to the House floor.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., called for Harris to invoke the 25th Amendment and on Tuesday introduced articles of impeachment against the vice president for disregarding border laws.
Additionally, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., wrote a letter to each of Biden’s Cabinet members urging them to invoke the 25th Amendment.
But the House is not expected to take action on the 25th Amendment anytime soon.
The House of Representatives went into its August recess early Thursday.
They are not expected to return to work in Washington, DC until September 9, which is 45 days from now.
