Push for Kamala Harris to use 25th Amendment to oust Joe Biden immediately

Republicans are trying to do what the Democrats did to Donald Trump after the Capitol riot to boot Joe Biden from office immediately.

US President Joe Biden is facing calls to resign as leader immediately or be forced out of office after he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race less than four months before the November election.

The 81-year-old’s decision to withdraw comes after huge speculation and heightened concerns about his health following a disastrous debate with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, 78.

“While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Mr Biden said in a written statement released in the early hours of Monday, Australian time (Sunday, local time).

Vice President Kamala Harris has been called on to take over as President from Joe Biden immediately. Picture: Jim Watson / AFP

Republicans have used this as an opportunity to demand Mr Biden be removed from his duties immediately, just as Democrats did to Trump in 2021.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace said she would be introducing a resolution calling on Vice President Kamala Harris to invoke the 25th amendment and assume the duties of Mr Biden.

“If Joe Biden does not have the cognitive ability to seek re-election, he does not have the cognitive ability to serve the remainder of his term,” she wrote on social media, alongside a copy of the resolution.

The resolution claims “the President is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office” and Ms Harris should immediately become acting President.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace at the Republican National Convention last week. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP

The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution sets out the procedures for replacing a president or vice president if they die, resign or are unfit for office.

The amendment was ratified in the wake of the assassination of 35th president John F. Kennedy, which left the country without a vice president for 14 months when vice president Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president following Mr Kennedy’s death.

Under the 25th Amendment, Ms Harris would have to declare Mr Biden unfit for office. Picture: Brendan Smialowski / AFP

Under Section 4 of the amendment, Ms Harris and a majority of the Cabinet would have to declare Mr Biden unfit for office for him to be ousted, and there are ways for the president to dispute the move and have it voted on by Congress.

This section has never been invoked but there were calls for it to be used on Trump in 2021 after the January 6 Capitol riot.

As senior CNN politics writer Zach Wolf reported at the time, the bar the amendment sets for removing a president “is incredibly high”.

Then vice president Mike Pence was formally called on to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump from office after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Picture: Olivier Douliery / AFP

The US House of Representatives passed a resolution to formally call on vice president Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to force Trump from office before Mr Biden was sworn in on January 20. But Mr Pence rejected the call.

Trump was then impeached by the House for a second time on January 13, 2021 – becoming the first president ever to be impeached twice – and was acquitted by the Senate on February 13, 2021 after he had left office.

Mr Pence refused to invoke the 25th Amendment so the House tried to impeach Trump instead. Picture: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP

Calls for Biden to resign immediately

Newly elected Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance is among a host of Republicans who are calling on Mr Biden to resign.

Hours before Mr Biden announced he was dropping out of the election race, Mr Vance shared a post on X, writing: “If Joe Biden ends his re-election campaign, how can he justify remaining President?

“Not running for re-election would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as Commander-in-Chief. There is no middle ground.”

A number of leaders in the Republican Party have echoed the call.

In a statement released after Mr Biden’s announcement, House Speaker Mike Johnson called on the President to resign “immediately”.

“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President,” he wrote.

“November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.”