The fall of Kabul on Aug. 15, together with the subsequent chaotic evacuation of U.S. citizens and the deaths of at least 13 U.S. service members in a terrorist attack outside the city’s airport on Aug. 26, has triggered a wave of outrage among lawmakers, with numerous Republicans going beyond mere criticism of the Biden administration’s drawdown of U.S. troops to say that the president ought to vacate office.
The invocation of the 25th Amendment, resignation, and impeachment have all been promoted in recent days as possible solutions by a growing number of Republican officials, who say Biden’s actions since Afghanistan fell to the Taliban call into question the president’s fitness to serve.
Here are the GOP members who have called on Biden to leave or be removed from the Oval Office so far.
25th Amendment
Multiple lawmakers have said the use of the 25th Amendment (which allows the vice president, a majority of the president’s Cabinet, and two-thirds Congress to vote to remove a president whom they determine to be “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”) may be in order.
Sen. Rick Scott: “After the disastrous events in Afghanistan, we must confront a serious question: Is Joe Biden capable of discharging the duties of his office or has time come to exercise the provisions of the 25th Amendment?” Scott wrote in a tweet on Aug. 16.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn: On Thursday, the North Carolina Republican announced he “formally requested the U.S. Cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment.”
“Joe Biden does not simply have a pattern of poor decision-making, his mental decline is on full display,” he tweeted. “We must not allow this mentally unstable individual to direct our country one second longer.”
Rep. Claudia Tenney: Tenney, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was less equivocal, saying it is “clear” Biden is failing to perform his duties.
“Last year, my colleague [Rep.] Jamie Raskin stated ‘The 25th Amendment was adopted 50 years ago, but Congress has never set up the body it calls for to determine presidential fitness in the event of physical or psychological incapacity. Now is the time to do it.’ Well, NOW is the time,” Tenney, who also called for Biden to resign on Aug. 19, tweeted the day after Kabul fell.
Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought during the previous Congress to establish a commission within the body to participate in 25th Amendment proceedings during the waning days of President Donald Trump’s administration.
“It is now clear our Commander In Chief & his administration are incapable of or unwilling to perform their duties. If Biden does not resign, it is time for Congress to take action. Our military can’t be led in this manner, it is a national security disaster waiting to happen,” Tenney added.
REPUBLICANS FLOAT FAR-FETCHED 25TH AMENDMENT PLAN TO OUST BIDEN OVER KABUL DEBACLE
Rep. Ronny Jackson: Jackson, a former White House physician who now serves as a Republican congressman from Texas, has repeatedly suggested invoking the 25th Amendment.
“Remember when I said it was time to consider the 25th Amendment and the LIARS in the liberal press ATTACKED me?” Jackson tweeted Monday. “I wonder what they think now after Biden is very OBVIOUSLY mentally incapable of leading during a crisis. Something MUST be done!”
Jackson went further on Friday and urged Biden to resign his office.
“The time has come for Biden to RESIGN! I’ve been saying for MONTHS that he’s not cognitively capable, and now that’s on full display to the American people,” he said. “We can’t afford to have someone like this in office ANY longer. Time to move on!”
Resignation
Biden has the ability to step down voluntarily, an option many Republicans are urging the president to consider. No other member of government would need to take any further action to implement a resignation. If Biden resigned, he would become the second president in U.S. history to vacate the office of his own volition, following former President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974.
Former President Donald Trump: Trump, who was himself twice impeached but not removed, led the pack in putting the onus on Biden to step down, telling the president to “resign in disgrace” on Aug. 15 after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as the Taliban swiftly moved into Kabul.
“It is time for Joe Biden to resign in disgrace for what he has allowed to happen to Afghanistan,” Trump said in a statement, also blaming Biden for the present surge in COVID-19 infections and the historic number of illegal border crossings.
Trump again pushed for Biden’s resignation through a fundraising email sent by his Save America political action committee Friday.
“Joe Biden went on TV and blamed ME for HIS failure with Afghanistan,” Trump’s email read. “BIG LIES! I’ve activated a 3X-IMPACT when you step up and DEMAND that he RESIGN.”
Biden has, in multiple appearances this week, stood by his strategy in Afghanistan, where thousands of U.S. citizens and eligible Afghan nationals eligible for U.S. visas remain stranded.
He pointed to the deal the Trump administration struck with the Taliban in February 2020, which had pledged U.S. troop withdrawal by May 1, 2021.
“U.S. forces had already drawn down during the Trump administration from roughly 15,500 American forces to 2,500 troops in the country, and the Taliban was at its strongest militarily since 2001,” Biden said in an Aug. 16 speech.
“The choice I had to make, as your president, was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban in the middle of the spring fighting season,” he added.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn: Following Thursday’s fatal bombings in Kabul, Blackburn declared that Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Cabinet members “should all resign or face impeachment and removal from office,” a move that would leave House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is third in the line of presidential succession, to be sworn in as president.
Sen. Josh Hawley: The potential 2024 contender said Biden is responsible for the loss of U.S. lives in Kabul on Thursday and declared he “must resign.”
“This is the product of Joe Biden’s catastrophic failure of leadership,” Hawley said in a statement. “It is now painfully clear he has neither the will nor the capacity to lead.”
Nikki Haley: The former United Nations ambassador answered “yes” to her own question of whether Biden should resign but recoiled at the prospect of Harris succeeding him.
“Should Biden step down or be removed for his handling of Afghanistan? Yes,” Haley said in a tweet. “But that would leave us with Kamala Harris which would be ten times worse. God help us.”
Rep. Lee Zeldin: The New York Republican said there needs to be a “heck of a lot of accountability” for the Kabul explosion.
“I really don’t believe that this president can stay in this position,” Zeldin told Rita Cosby on WABC Radio on Thursday. “I believe that he should resign.”
Rep. Greg Steube: Steube said after the attack outside Kabul airport, that Biden “needs to take responsibility and resign.”
“We must keep our troops safe and our country protected,” he said. “God bless our soldiers and their families.”
Rep. Michael Cloud: Following the attack in Kabul, Cloud said the Biden administration “has failed Americans on yet another front” and called for Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley to step down.
Rep. Roger Williams: Williams said Biden “lacks the fortitude to keep America safe” after Thursday’s attack, adding it is “time for him to resign or be legally removed.”
Rep. Brian Babin: The Texas congressman said Biden must resign, be removed through the 25th Amendment procedure, or be impeached by Congress.
“His incompetence caused the death and injury of brave Marines,” Babin said on Twitter. “He can longer be tolerated.”
Rep. Vicky Hartzler: The five-term Missouri congresswoman took a broad swing at Democrats’ domestic policy initiatives, which have been advanced week in Congress amid the Afghanistan turmoil, and threw in a call for Biden’s resignation.
“We need this president to resign,” she said in a video taken on the Capitol grounds posted online Tuesday. “He has proven that he is incompetent and he’s incapable of leading this nation.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert: The congresswoman from Colorado took to Twitter following news of the explosions in Kabul, saying, “It’s time for Joe Biden to resign.”
Rep. Jody Hice: The Georgia Republican used the hashtag #BidenMustResignNow in a tweet condemning the president’s actions preceding the Thursday explosions in Kabul.
“President Biden is responsible for every single drop of blood spilled in his botched withdrawal,” Hice tweeted hours after the attacks.
Rep. Mark Green: Green accused Biden of either “lying to American people” about the situation in Afghanistan or being unable to comprehend it.
“The best thing for America right now would be for Joe Biden to resign or for the Cabinet to step up and take him out,” Green said in a Fox News interview on Thursday.
Rep. Byron Donalds: Donalds urged Biden to step down on Monday, accusing him of having “abdicated his responsibility” as president with the “botched” Afghanistan withdrawal.
“It has become clear that President Biden has lost complete and total confidence of the American people through his haphazard decision to withdraw from Afghanistan,” the first-term Florida Republican said in a statement. “This botched withdrawal is currently threatening the lives of our servicemen and women, the stability in the region, and our integrity on the global stage.”
“President Joseph R. Biden must resign immediately,” he said.
Rep. Andy Biggs: Biggs also called on both Biden and Harris to step down.
“These past few days have proven what we’ve already known about Biden and Harris,” the Arizona Republican said in an Aug. 17 tweet. “They are completely unfit to lead. They must resign!”
Impeachment
The United States has experienced four presidential impeachment proceedings, half of which occurred during the final two years of Trump’s term in office. Before Trump was impeached in 2019 and 2021, former Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were both impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively. In all four proceedings, the Senate was unable to muster the two-thirds vote necessary to convict the president and remove him from office.
Republicans were roiled by the impeachment proceedings against Trump, and some members of the party have clamored to subject Biden to the same process. While vowing not to spearhead a political impeachment proceeding, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a favorite for speaker if Republicans regain control of the lower chamber in 2022, told Fox News Thursday that the caucus “would move impeachment” if Biden “takes an illegal action.” The minority leader did not clarify whether he believes Biden has done anything illegal in his presidency so far.
Rep. Diana Harshbarger: Harshbarger criticized Biden for lacking a plan with the U.S. withdrawal following the attack near Kabul’s airport, adding that Afghanistan, inflation, and historic illegal crossings at the southern border “make it clear he is not fit for the responsibilities of the presidency.”
“President Biden should be impeached,” she said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham: The South Carolina senator joined his fellow Republicans calling for Biden’s removal by supporting impeachment, although his call to action was not without conditions.
“If we leave any Americans behind, or if we leave thousands of Afghans who fought bravely alongside us behind, President Joe Biden deserves to be impeached for a High Crime and Misdemeanor of Dereliction of Duty,” Graham tweeted.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: Greene filed three articles of impeachment against Biden on Aug. 20, saying during a rally the day before that she “believe[s] in firing people when they are corrupt and do a bad job, and Joe Biden is failing America and needs to be impeached.”
The Georgia Republican previously introduced an article of impeachment against Biden the day after he took office, but the action was not taken up.
Greene separately called Biden a “piece of s***” over the situation in Afghanistan in a video posted online.
“Joe Biden, you are not a president. You are a piece of s***,” Greene said. “Thousands of Americans are stuck over there in Afghanistan, and you are letting the Taliban kick your a** while you are lecturing governors about masks and vaccines. Do your job: Bring these Americans home.”
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The president has indicated he intends to run for reelection in 2024, suggesting he has no plans to resign. With Democratic control of both chambers of Congress, it is highly improbable Republican lawmakers will achieve the requisite thresholds to effectuate the 25th Amendment or an impeachment conviction.
