Nearly seven-dozen Republicans have called on President Joe Biden to take a mental competency test to show he can be in office.
The letter cited Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report that deemed President Biden to have mishandled classified information. While Mr. Hur declined to charge the president with a crime, he expressed alarm over the president’s mental acuity.
The report detailed findings on President Biden’s “poor memory,” which led to intense scrutiny of his mental acuity while sparking backlash from the administration. Biden officials have described the characterizations as politically motivated.
Mr. Hur said a jury would likely be sympathetic, partly because of the president’s cognitive issues.
“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Mr. Hur wrote.
“Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him—by then a former president well into his eighties—of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”
President Biden’s forgetfulness could be a rationale for unintentionally keeping the classified information, according to Mr. Hur.
The letter from House Republicans tells President Biden that the occupant of the Oval Office “must demonstrate sound mental abilities, regardless of gender, age, or political party, which you have not” and that if he is not mentally fit to stand trial, then he cannot “serve as the leader of the free world.”
‘Mental Decline and Forgetfulness’
“Over the past three years, your mental decline and forgetfulness has become even more apparent,” wrote the GOP lawmakers. “It is a common occurrence to see you shuffling your feet, stumbling while walking, slurring your words, forgetting names, losing your train of thought, and appearing confused or asleep when making public appearances here at home and on the world stage.”The letter cited examples of President Biden’s slip-ups, including mixing French President Emmanuel Macron with the late French President Francois Mitterrand, confusing former German Chancellor Angela Merkel with the late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and saying Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as the “president of Mexico” when he is actually the president of Egypt.
The lawmakers lament that President Biden’s cognitive abilities empower the United States’s adversaries and pose a national security threat.
“Unfortunately, we fear that your perceived cognitive deterioration is inviting Beijing to take this military action, as there is significant doubt surrounding your ability to execute the duties required of the president of the United States and prevent further global conflicts from arising or escalating,” wrote the lawmakers.
“The American people can no longer be left to wonder about their safety and security because of your declining cognitive ability. If you believe you are cognitively fit for duty, then you should prove it to the American people by submitting to appropriate clinical exam and testing,” the letter reads.
Finally, the letter said President Biden’s Cabinet should invoke the 25th Amendment if the president cannot prove he is mentally fit to serve.
That amendment of the Constitution states that the Cabinet can send to Congress a written notice that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the vice president as acting president.”
In response to an inquiry from The Epoch Times about the letter, the White House responded with a meme of Dr. Nick from the hit show “The Simpsons.” Dr. Nick’s character is that of an unethical physician.
Among the lawmakers who signed the letter included House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), former White House physician Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.), House Small Business Committee Chair Roger Williams (R-Texas), and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Va.).
President Biden will not take a mental competency test when he takes his annual physical exam, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre this week.
