Hawley, Schmitt call on President Biden to resign after dropping out of presidential race
The two U.S. senators from Missouri both called on President Joe Biden to immediately resign from office after Biden announced in a letter on Sunday that he was withdrawing from the presidential race.
Sen. Josh Hawley responded to Biden’s letter on social media, claiming the president was unfit to continue leading the country.
“Then RESIGN your office,” Hawley, a Republican, wrote above Biden’s post. “If you can’t run a mere political campaign, you can’t be President.”
Missouri’s other Republican senator, Eric Schmitt, also said that Biden was unfit to continue serving, saying in a statement that his “time in elected office is far past its expiration date.”
“Americans are ready for new leadership, not more of the same from Democrats - regardless of who they now scramble to nominate,” Schmitt said. “Further, if Joe Biden isn’t fit enough to serve as a candidate after the primary, he isn’t fit to serve as president now.”
Schmitt also attacked Biden’s tenure as president, claiming he “brought Americans crushing inflation, an abysmal foreign policy record, and a vastly unchecked expansion of the administrative state.”
Throughout the day on Sunday, a chorus of Missouri Republicans echoed calls for Biden to resign, including Rep. Mark Alford. In a statement, Alford attacked Biden’s tenure, pointing to inflation and immigration issues.
“Biden’s decision to serve out the rest of his term is a threat to our national security,” Alford said. “If he isn’t not well enough to run a campaign, Joe Biden certainly isn’t fit to remain President of the United States. He needs to do the right thing for our country and resign immediately.”
Biden’s announcement came after a poor debate performance ratcheted up concerns that he would be unable to defeat former President Donald Trump in November and that, even if he could, he would not be physically and mentally fit to serve another four years.
Hawley, in a follow up post, claimed without evidence that Democrats were “rigging their *own* elections.”
Biden, in a second statement posted on Sunday, threw his support behind his vice president, Kamala Harris, to replace him as the nominee.
This story was originally published July 21, 2024 at 2:52 PM.
