Speaker Johnson pressed to investigate whether President Biden was pressured by Democrats to step aside with 25th Amendment threat
House Speaker Mike Johnson is being pressured to investigate whether Democrats threatened to remove Joe Biden from office under the 25th Amendment if he didn't exit the 2024 race.
The 25th Amendment, which outlines presidential succession should the commander-in-chief be incapable of fulfilling his duties, has never been used before.
But as concerns over the president's ability and mental state continue, Republicans have floated using the never-before-seen measure to boot Biden from the Oval Office.
Earlier this week, Johnson revealed he was mulling whether to bring a 25th Amendment resolution to the floor to coerce Harris into forcing out Biden.
However, Trump spoke out against the maneuver saying Harris would be 'worse' than Biden, which may be enough to kill any momentum behind the resolution.
Now, the conservative group American Accountability Foundation (AAF) is demanding Johnson investigate whether Democrats strong-armed Biden to drop his presidential bid using the 25th Amendment.
Vice President Kamala Harris is suspected of extorting President Joe Biden out of running for reelection. The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) is demanding Speaker Mike Johnson investigate whether Harris threatened Biden with invoking the 25th Amendment prompting him to cancel his campaign and endorse her
'I am writing today to request that you immediately charge the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability to investigate credible claims that Vice President Harris may have extorted President Biden under the threat of invocation of the twenty-fifth amendment to the Constitution to end his candidacy for the Presidency,' AAF President Thomas Jones wrote to Johnson.
'There have been multiple reports that leaders in the Democrat party, up to and 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 note that there could be evidence that Harris extorted Biden to relinquish his quest 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 through the President’s cabinet.'
'Put simply, if Vice President Harris were able to credibly muster the support of eight members of the President’s cabinet (a majority of the fifteen executive departments), she could present an ultimatum to the President forcing him to end his campaign and to endorse her candidacy, lest he be removed from office, forever cementing his legacy as a President who was mentally unfit to lead the country.'
'Such a demand by the Vice President, and any supporters in the cabinet, would have unquestionably been extortion,' Jones continued.
The AAF letter comes as Republicans are split over whether the 25th Amendment should be invoked to remove Biden from office.
But that push may now be quelled.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is under pressure to investigate if President Joe Biden was extorted out of his reelection campaign
President Joe Biden delivers remarks from the Oval Office about his canceled campaign. His son, Hunter Biden, sits in a chair just out of the camera's shot
Former President Donald Trump said Thursday he is against his party pushing for the use of the amendment.
'I don’t think they should use the 25th Amendment,' he said.
'I will say this, the world is in a very dangerous place. I think if [Biden] goes, [Kamala] then takes over and she’s worse than he is,' Trump said on Fox & Friends, calling her a 'San Francisco radical.'
Despite Trump's warning, some Republicans are still insisting that the never-before-used amendment must be invoked immediately to remove Biden.
'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 is the Vice President of the United States and the President of the United States is compromised mentally and physically.'
'So it's her duty to invoke the 25th Amendment, get the cabinet together, write a letter, submit to Joe Biden and that millisecond she becomes the the the acting president United States.'
He said Biden is 'pretending' to be president and he would 'rather have an acting president than him pretending.'
Johnson previosuly said
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., a former Navy SEAL, told DailyMail.com he believes the 25th Amendment should be invoked for national security reasons. He also revealed he personally sent a letter to Vice President Kamala Harris to invoke the measure
Biden's address Wednesday night was the first time he addressed the nation since dropping his reelection bid and contracting COVID last week
Van Orden says he is still supportive of 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, R-Tenn., agreed with Donalds and Trump.
'It won't pass the Senate. So I don't know that is needed.'
'I don't think the President has any capacity to govern. And he hasn't been quite some time and it's been covered up completely by the media.'
'Everybody in Washington talks about it, Democrats and Republicans.'
So far, several in the GOP - including Johnson - have already spoken about taking action in pushing the amendment maneuver forward.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said that he has the same opinion as Trump, that the amendment should not be used to oust Biden
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., was more pragmatic, saying that though Biden is unfit for office, the Senate would never vote for the 25th Amendment's use
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, first filed a resolution just after the debate to call on Harris 'to convene the Cabinet and declare President Joe Biden as unable to carry out his duties as Commander-in-Chief.'
And Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Monday he was still considering whether to put the resolution on the House floor.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., has called for Harris to invoke the 25th Amendment and on Tuesday introduced articles of impeachment for the vice president failing to uphold border laws.
Additionally, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., wrote a letter to every one of Biden's Cabinet members urging them to invoke the 25th Amendment.
But action in the House regarding the 25th Amendment is not expected to come any time soon.
The House broke for August recess early on Thursday.
They are not expected to return to business in Washington, D.C. until September 9, which is 45 days away.
