The president of United States, Joe Biden, will temporarily cede power to the vice president of the country, Kamala Harris, while the anesthesia from a colonoscopy to which he will undergo this Friday at the Walter Reed hospital.
This “routine” procedure, reports the White House, is part of the medical examination that the president is undergoing this Friday, the first since he took office in January.
“The White House press office confirms that President Biden has invoked section 3 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution to temporarily transfer power,” the institution has confirmed on this constitutional provision that contemplates the transfer of power from the president to his ‘number two’ during the time that he is unable to continue exercising the functions.
The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, recalled that This situation is not new -It already happened in 2002 and 2007, when then-President George W. Bush underwent the same procedure-, but se is about the first time that power rests with a woman.
“Following the process established in the Constitution, President Biden will transfer power to the Vice President during the brief period of time she is under anesthesia. The Vice President will work from her office in the West Wing during this time,” the White House has confirmed. .
The US government will release the results of the medical examination to the president in the next few hours. Biden, 78, underwent his last comprehensive exam in December 2019, when doctors found he was “healthy, vigorous” and “capable of successfully executing the duties of the Presidency”, as it became known during the electoral campaign.
Earlier this year, the former press secretary of the former president Donald Trump, Stephanie Grisham, hinted in a book that Biden’s predecessor also had a colonoscopy on a secret visit Walter Reed in 2019, but kept it quiet to avoid transferring presidential power to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
The option of the transfer of power was also open in November last year, during Trump’s convalescence after testing positive for coronavirus, although it was not carried out either.
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
