CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has renewed his call for Vice President Kamala Harris to invoke her powers under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment and declare that President Joe Biden is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
Morrisey wrote the letter to Harris a day after Biden announced he no longer would be seeking the Democratic nomination for president.
“If Biden is incapable of running, then he is incapable of fulfilling the duties of the presidency,” Morrisey said in the letter, also noting how “leaders from within the Democratic party and others urged President Biden to withdraw from the race, recognizing that the increasingly enfeebled president would be unable to face the rigors of an election.”
In February, Morrisey wrote his first letter to Harris urging her to invoke the 25th Amendment after a special counsel report raised serious concerns about Biden’s mental and physical condition.
“President Biden’s cognitive decline is of great concern to Americans, especially during these times that our nation is facing crisis after crisis both here and abroad,” Morrisey wrote. “We need a president who is mentally fit.”
At the time, Morrisey’s first letter was met with disdain by West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, a fellow Republican who was running against Morrisey and others in the gubernatorial primary election. Morrisey won that race and is scheduled to face Democratic Huntington Mayor Steve Williams in the fall general election. Warner said Morrisey was playing the role of a carnival barker “trying to get attention” with his February letter to Harris.
Also on Monday, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) urged Biden to resign now following Sunday’s announcement.
“We live in a dangerous world and deserve a commander in chief who is up for the rigors of the job,” Capitol said in her statement. “If President Biden feels that he is not capable of making it through the demands of a campaign, then how could he be capable of serving out the rest of his term as president?
“Make no mistake, Vice President Kamala Harris represents a continuation of the last four years of President Biden’s disastrous policies. Whether it’s her failed leadership on our out-of-control southern border or her deciding vote in passing the so-called Inflation Reduction Act that supercharged the skyrocketing inflation Americans still feel to this day, a Harris administration would be more of the same. As the vice president who cast more tie-breaking deciding votes than any vice president in history, she alone put our nation on the path of misguided progressive policies and nominations outside of the mainstream.
“What is even worse is that members of President Biden’s inner circle — including Vice President Harris, White House officials, and Democrat leadership — have let him continue on amidst his apparent cognitive decline.
“The Biden administration consistently fails to accept responsibility for its many failures. They owe the American people an explanation, most recently in their inadequate and irresponsible actions following the assassination attempt of President Donald Trump.”