A new report from veteran journalist Seymour Hersch indicates that former President Barack Obama conspired with top Democrats to threaten President Biden with invoking the 25th Amendment if he did not drop out of the race. Vice President Harris reportedly agreed with the idea and gave Democrat leaders “the OK.”
Numerous sources have reported that internal Democrat efforts to replace Biden really heated up following the president’s disastrous debate performance on June 27.
After a handful of Democrats had called on Biden to step aside, former President Obama was “deeply involved” in the plot to remove his former running mate by July 20, Hersch reported. When Biden abruptly cancelled a Las Vegas campaign event last week, it was believed that Obama was going to call Biden personally and demand that he step aside.
An anonymous White House official told Hersch that “the big three,” referring to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, were also heavily involved.
“On Sunday morning,’ the official told me, with the approval of Pelosi and Schumer, ‘Obama called Biden after breakfast and said, ‘Here’s the deal. We have Kamala’s approval to invoke the 25th Amendment.’”
The 25th Amendment requires the president to step down determined by the vice president and others to be unfit to carry out the powers and duties of his office. The vice president would then assume White House duties.
“It was clear at this point,’ the official said, according to Hersch, “that she would get the nod” which is, the support to run for the presidency in the November election. “But Obama also made it clear,” the official said, “that he was not going to immediately endorse her. But the group had decided that her work as a prosecutor would help her deal with Trump in a debate.”
After initially opting not to endorse Harris, Barack and Michelle Obama offered their endorsement via phone call on Friday.
“The official, who has decades of experience in fundraising, told me that Obama emerged as the strongman throughout the negotiations,” Hersch reported. “He had an agenda and he wanted to seek it through to the end, and he wanted to have control over who would be elected,” the source said.
The New York Post had previously reported that Obama was not initially keen on Harris, and would have preferred to hold a “mini primary” during next month’s convention. A source “close to the Biden family” told the outlet that the president opted to back Harris in order to spite Obama, as well as the “big three,” and spoil their convention plans.
If Hersch’s report is true, it would indicate a far more sinister plot, however, as Vice President Harris would have essentially participated in a coup against the sitting president. It would also mean that President Biden is incapable of running the country due to his cognitive decline.