Treasury chief Janet Yellen reveals Cabinet has not met over 25th Amendment to remove Biden as president
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen revealed Tuesday that Cabinet members have not talked about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Biden during the national reckoning over his cognitive state.
Yellen, 77 — speaking before the House Financial Services Committee — suggested they don’t need to.
While several prominent Republicans including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have publicly nudged the Cabinet to consider the move, Yellen was asked whether it had occurred and replied simply, “No.”
She also was asked about the last time she had a meeting with the 81-year-old president and whether she observed any “cognitive decline” in him, as she gave her annual testimony on “the state of the international financial system.”
The treasury chief wouldn’t say the last time the pair met but added, “The president is extremely effective in the meetings that I’ve been in with him.
“That includes many international meetings that are multi-hour.”
In addition to Yellen, Vice President Kamala Harris has publicly stood by Biden, even as some top Democrats have called for him to exit the race after last month’s gaffe-ridden debate in which he mumbled, appeared to lose his train of thought and stare off blankly into space at times.
Under the 25th Amendment, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could deem the president incapable of discharging his duties and replace him or her with the vice president.
A sitting president enjoys the right to challenge the move before Congress, where he or she would have to win over a two-thirds majority in both chambers to retain power.
Since its ratification, the 25th Amendment has never been invoked to remove a sitting US president, though it has been dangled from time to time by critics of a commander in chief.
For example, Dem ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested former President Donald Trump’s Cabinet invoke the 25th in 2021, a suggested overthrow that ultimately never took place.
What to know about the calls for President Biden to drop out of the 2024 race:
- President Biden’s poor performance in the first 2024 presidential debate left some Democrats unsure of his fitness for office and future as the party’s candidate.
- More than a dozen congressional Democrats have joined in calling for Biden’s exit from the race. Former Biden supporter George Clooney echoed these calls in an op-ed published in the New York Times just weeks after he helped lead a record-breaking fundraiser for the Democrat.
- Democratic voters have continued to raise concerns about Biden’s nomination since the debate, with speculations and suggestions for replacement nominees running rampant.
- Biden’s former running mate Barack Obama has reportedly been trying to pressure him to drop out, and had prior knowledge of Clooney’s op-ed. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi allegedly told Biden he could not beat former President Donald Trump this time around.
- As the Democratic National Convention approaches, California delegates for the Democratic Party are reportedly in disarray as debate over the president’s chances of re-election threatens to tear the party apart.
- However, the Biden campaign has denied any plans for Biden to bow out and for Kamala Harris to step in as the Democratic nominee. Sources close to the president believe he might not be willing to drop out, while other sources claim he is “receptive” to giving up on a second term.
Earlier in the day Tuesday, Johnson argued that Biden’s cabinet should consider the 25th.
“I would ask the Cabinet members to search their hearts,” Johnson said during a press conference. “And we hope that they will do their duty, as we all seek to do our duty to do best by the American people. These are fateful moments.
“I would be having that discussion with my colleagues at the Cabinet level,” he went on. “We’ll see what action they take. It’s a serious situation.”
Johnson’s press conference had an atypical sparse attendance from the press, which was mostly assembled about half a mile up the road outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters building where House Democrats met to discuss the president.
Half a dozen House Democrats have publicly come forward and urged Biden to pass on his presumptive presidential standard bearer status to someone else in the aftermath of the debate.
During the meeting, Democrats voiced their misgivings about the situation and tried to downplay the drama when swarmed by reporters afterward.
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Biden sent a letter to congressional Democrats on Monday stating that he’s not going anywhere.
“The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now,” Biden wrote in the letter. “It’s time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump.”
In a subsequent interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” which is reportedly one of his favorite shows, Biden dared dismayed Democrats to challenge him at the Democratic National Convention.
Biden has publicly contended that he was “exhausted” during the debate and maintained that he wouldn’t be running if he didn’t believe with all his “heart and soul” that he could do the job.
