Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy doubled down on his theory that Democrats will swap out President Biden with Michelle Obama on their party’s ticket following the release of the special counsel’s report.
The bombshell findings from Special Counsel Robert Hur put a spotlight on Biden’s cognitive abilities, saying he would not bring charges against him in part because a jury would find him to be a ‘sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory,’ despite the acknowledgment that the classified documents were ‘willfully’ obtained by Biden both as vice president and as a senator.
Ramaswamy, who was outspoken on the campaign trail about the belief that the 81-year-old president will ultimately not be the Democratic nominee, told Fox News Digital the special counsel’s report marks the ‘convenient path’ for Democrats to nominate the popular former first lady.
‘The main obstacle stopping the Democratic Party is they have a Kamala Harris problem, which is to say that if they do sideline Biden, the natural person normally that would be the nominee, could be the vice president of that same sitting president. But that vice president is unable, I think, to effectively carry forward that job,’ Ramaswamy said. ‘She didn’t make it to the Iowa caucus in the year that she ran, right, even and within her own party, let alone an issue with broader popularity in the country.’
‘If race and gender are your basis for selecting someone for a job, and the identity of your party is tied to that temple of identity politics, then they will risk looking hypocritical if they sideline her after they sideline Biden. And I do think Michelle Obama offers them a convenient path out of that problem, somebody who checks the boxes that they need to have checked per their own ideology, while also selecting an alternative to Biden that they may view as more palatable in a general election . . . it’s looking increasingly like it’s not going to be Biden as the nominee. And I think that it should not be shocking to see someone like Michelle Obama take the role of the nomination,’ Ramaswamy said.
When asked about Hur’s decision not to bring charges against Biden, Ramaswamy said it signaled Biden’s ‘willingness’ to eventually step aside.
‘I think that coincides within recent months [of] him saying things like, you know, other Democratic nominees could also be successful in the general,’ Ramaswamy said. ‘So I think that we’re seeing a general trend towards what I predicted . . . which is that they would move Biden out of the way. And I think this is one more step in that direction.’
Hur, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents, revealed that Biden had a ‘hazy’ memory about when he was previously in office and when his son Beau died, which happened in 2015.
‘In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse,’ the report states. ‘He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 — when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’).’
‘He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died,’ the report continued. ‘And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said he ‘had a real difference’ of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact, Eikenberry was an ally whom Mr. Biden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama.’
These revelations, in addition to his recent slew of gaffes, continue to fuel concerns among some voters about the advanced age of Biden, the oldest president in U.S. history. His likely 2024 opponent, former President Trump, will turn 78 in June.