Pete Buttigieg fended off a Republican who used a transportation hearing to ask if Joe Biden’s cabinet had discussed using the 25th amendment to remove the president from office, saying: “I’m glad to have a president who can ride a bicycle.”
The transportation secretary was appearing in front of the House transportation committee on Tuesday.
Amid discussion of policy, the Texas representative Troy Nehls decided to go in a more partisan direction.
“We now see the mainstream media questioning President Biden’s mental state, and for good reason,” Nehls said. “Sadly, he shakes hands with ghosts and imaginary people, and he falls off bicycles. Even at the White House Easter celebration, the Easter Bunny had to guide him back into his safe place.”
Aides stood behind Nehls, showing blown-up pictures of such incidents.
Biden fell off his bike in Delaware last month, to considerable glee among Republicans and rightwing media.
He told reporters: “I’m good.”
But with Biden beset by domestic and international crises, some compared his awkward moment with one in 1979, when Jimmy Carter, who would turn out to be a one-term Democratic president, was attacked by a rabbit while fishing from a boat.
Nehls complained that the “dishonest media, which in my humble opinion is the greatest threat to this country”, had regularly questioned Donald Trump’s mental health when he was in office.
The Republican asked: “Have you spoken to cabinet members about implementing the 25th amendment on President Biden?”
Buttigieg, a keen cyclist himself, said: “First of all, I’m glad to have a president who can ride a bicycle. And, I will look beyond the insulting nature of that question and make clear to you that the president of the United States …”
Nehls interrupted him, repeating the question.
Buttigieg said quietly, “Of course not,” then said Biden was “as vigorous a colleague or boss as I have ever had the pleasure of working with”.
Biden, 79, is both the oldest president ever inaugurated and the subject of perpetual speculation about his physical fitness. Many on both sides of the aisle say he should not run for a second term in 2024.
The 25th amendment provides for the removal of a president deemed incapable of carrying out his duties.
Members of Trump’s cabinet did discuss invoking it – in the aftermath of the deadly Capitol riot of 6 January 2021, which Trump provoked in his attempt to overturn his election defeat by Biden.
Nehls was one of 147 Republicans in Congress who voted to object to results in Biden’s win.
