Doug Mills/The New York Times by way of AP, Pool
President Biden this week urged Republican Senate candidates Herschel Walker and Dr. Mehmet Oz to depart their positions on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition or face elimination.
Both GOP contenders shared Biden’s request on Twitter, accusing the president of politicizing health forward of this November’s midterm elections.
“President Biden is so scared about us beating Raphael Warnock that he has asked me to resign from my unpaid position on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition,” Walker tweeted Thursday. “I’m not a quitter so you are going to have to fire me.”
Walker is the heavy favourite to win the Republican Senate major in Georgia and tackle Warnock, who received the seat in a particular election in January 2021. The 1982 Heisman Trophy winner for the University of Georgia has been endorsed by a number of high Republicans, together with former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“I received this letter on behalf of @POTUS requesting I resign from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition,” Oz tweeted alongside a video sharing a picture of the letter. “It’s sad that he would politicize such an important issue like health. The doctor he should ask to resign is Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, for a multitude of obvious reasons.”
The letter, which bore Wednesday’s date, was addressed to Oz and signed by Gautam Raghaven, assistant to the president.
“On behalf of President Biden, I am writing to request your resignation as a Member of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition. Please submit your resignation to me by the close of business today,” the letter reads. “Should we not receive your resignation, your position with the Council will be terminated effective 6:00pm tonight. Thank you.”
The letter doesn’t say why the president requested for the resignations.
In one other tweet, Oz thanked Trump for appointing him to the council in 2018, saying he’s “beyond grateful.”
“I am also grateful to my colleagues on the committee & proud of everything we were able to achieve. However, I have no intention of resigning,” Oz wrote.
“If President Biden wants to politicize health, he will have to fire me. You would think record gas prices, a 40-year inflation high, and the situation in Ukraine would be his highest priorities at the moment.”
Oz introduced his determination to run for the Senate representing Pennsylvania in November, vowing to assist “heal” America. He will be wanting to fill the open seat left by Sen. Pat Toomey, who introduced his intent not to run in October 2020.
Democrats face a steep climb this fall to hold their slim majorities within the House and Senate, as greater than 30 Democratic members of the House have introduced their intent not to run for his or her seats once more.
Republicans will solely want a internet achieve of 5 seats to win again the House.
A White House official confirmed the letters to The Post, saying the administration is in opposition to having candidates for federal workplace on government department boards.
White House coverage however, federal regulation permits each Walker and Oz to “engage in political activity that full-time federal employees may not” when they’re off the council clock, according to a 2019 opinion by the pinnacle of the Office of Special Counsel’s Hatch Act Unit. “A member is not prohibited by the Hatch Act from running for partisan political office,” Ana Galidon Marrone wrote on the time, “although a member who does so may not engage in any campaign-related activity while performing Commission work. Similarly, a member may solicit, accept, and receive political contributions while off-duty.”
On Wednesday, the White House nominated world-renowned chef José Andrés and WNBA star Elena Delle Donne to replace Walker and Oz
