White House officials and Democratic lawmakers rebuffed calls Monday for President Biden to resign because of doubts about his ability to serve as commander in chief after he bowed out of his reelection campaign.
As they defended the president, who has remained out of sight since a COVID-19 diagnosis last week, Rep. Lauren Boebert raised the stakes.
“I demand proof of life from Joe Biden today by 5 p.m.,” Ms. Boebert, Colorado Republican, wrote on social media.
“He needs to get in front of some camera and discuss if he’s aware that he dropped out,” she said. “Hiding is completely unacceptable.”
Mr. Biden, 81, quit his reelection bid Sunday and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place on the ticket, but he did not respond to the proof-of-life challenge. He called in to his former campaign headquarters on Monday and thanked the staffers.
“I know yesterday’s news was surprising,” Mr. Biden said. “It was hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do. The name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn’t changed at all.”
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Since Wednesday, he has been isolating at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
A White House official said Mr. Biden received virtual briefings Monday from Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, his homeland security adviser, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
The calls for Mr. Biden to quit the presidency expanded beyond Republican ranks. Filmmaker and liberal activist Michael Moore said Mr. Biden’s resignation would help Ms. Harris defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump.
“Kamala Harris will be in a much stronger position to win if she can run as the President of the United States. As the incumbent President,” Mr. Moore wrote on his blog. “This will give the country a chance to see her in action — as the most powerful person in the world. She will have three and a half months (as they say, ‘an eternity in politics’) to show the American people her smarts, her strengths, her heart.”
White House spokesman Andrew Bates insisted that Mr. Biden would finish his term and continue delivering results. The president has already succeeded in turning around the economy, lowering crime rates and enlarging NATO, he said.
“He looks forward to finishing his term and delivering more historic results for the American people,” Mr. Bates said in a statement.
Critics in the Republican Party said Mr. Biden must resign or his vice president should use the 25th Amendment to remove him from office because voters and the Democratic Party have lost confidence in his abilities.
He quit his reelection campaign under pressure from Democratic leaders after a disastrous debate with Mr. Trump on June 27. In that debate, Mr. Biden gave incoherent answers, and his sentences sometimes trailed off as he stared blankly.
Mr. Biden later said he had a “bad night” and followed it with several more energetic public appearances, but the political damage had been done.
The resignation calls quickly followed Mr. Biden’s announcement on social media that he was out of the race.
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican.
On Monday, more Republicans piled on.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said the U.S. can’t afford to gamble on Mr. Biden remaining in the Oval Office.
“We live in a dangerous world and deserve a commander in chief who is up for the rigors of the job,” she said. “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?”
House Democrats said Mr. Biden is mentally fit to lead the free world even if he is not capable of serving another term.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico said Mr. Biden “is very fit to serve our country.”
“He wakes up every single day and is not only a national leader but a global leader. I work with him. We all interact with him. He clearly has his full faculties,” she said. “He’s clearly already running the country.”
Rep. Daniel Goldman of New York said Mr. Biden did not withdraw from the race because he was medically unfit.
“He made it clear that he was stepping down to pass this on to a new generation of leaders to ensure that Donald Trump does not get in the office of the presidency on Nov. 5,” Mr. Goldman said. “He has been a historically consequential president who has led us on the international stage in brilliant fashion and has passed historic legislation. And there is nothing about him that’s unfit to be president.”
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s nonvoting delegate to the House, agreed that Mr. Biden is healthy enough to finish his term.
“I don’t think he has to resign right now. I don’t think there’s anything medically wrong,” she said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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