Three takeaways from Biden health ‘cover-up’ hearing where GOP floated criminal charges

Senate Republicans’ first public hearing into former President Joe Biden’s health on Wednesday laid the groundwork for a broader investigation into whether the White House concealed his condition and unlawfully authorized executive actions in his name.

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, titled “Unfit to Serve: How the Biden Cover-Up Endangered America and Undermined the Constitution,” focused on the former president’s increasing reliance on a mechanical autopen and raised constitutional questions about his ability to carry out the duties of his office. 

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Republican lawmakers branded it as the beginning of a series of inquiries into whether Biden’s aides or Cabinet officials violated the law by enabling a “shadow presidency.”

There was a “monumental failure” on the part of the Cabinet and Vice President Kamala Harris to act, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner after the hearing, referencing the 25th Amendment. “People who engage in this sort of malfeasance need to know that there are consequences.”

Cornyn, cochairman of the hearing with Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), added that criminal violations could include obstruction of justice, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements, and forging government documents — charges he believes may apply if evidence shows Biden did not knowingly authorize his own autopen use.

Here are three other key takeaways from the hearing.

1. GOP zeroes in on Biden’s autopen use as legal scandal brews

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) used the hearing to demand internal records from the White House that could show whether Biden personally approved use of the autopen on critical decisions, including pardons, clemency grants, and executive orders, or if staff acted on his behalf without valid consent.

“If you want an answer to the question, ‘Did Joe Biden actually assent to the use of the autopen?’ There should be a record of it,” Hawley said. “This is a binary question. Either he did or he didn’t. If he didn’t, that is a major constitutional problem.”

Hawley threatened to subpoena autopen authorization records if the former president’s team does not voluntarily comply. He cited concerns that Biden may not have authorized actions such as his Dec. 12 mass clemency event, when he commuted 1,499 sentences and pardoned 39 individuals, including controversial figures such as his son, Hunter Biden, and former officials such as former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci and retired Gen. Mark Milley.

The Oversight Project — a conservative watchdog organization — recently found that Biden used at least three distinct autopen signatures, labeled “Autopen A,” “B,” and “C,” throughout his presidency, citing forensic analysis of hundreds of signatures from National Archives records analyzed by the group. The watchdog also found that the Biden administration was using the autopen on days when he was physically in Washington, where he also signed other documents by hand. 

One example highlighted was Aug. 3, 2022, when Biden signed a congressional bill by hand but used the autopen on an abortion-related executive order.

“There should be a record of what documents are presented to the president, when, and when he gave his consent,” said Theodore Wold, a former Justice Department official who also serves on the Oversight Project’s board. Wold said the first place to begin seeking those records would be the staff secretary’s office under Biden.

2. Mixed attendance, no bombshells leave GOP with an echo chamber

Despite the weighty subject matter, the hearing was sparsely attended and lacked the star witnesses or headline-making moments typical of high-profile Judiciary hearings. No new documents were introduced, and Republicans lacked full participation. Many GOP senators filtered in and out during the roughly two-hour hearing and departed once their questioning concluded. 

The hearing was overshadowed in the press by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, which focused on escalating tensions between Iran and Israel.

The witness panel featured familiar figures from Trump’s first term — including former press secretary Sean Spicer, who accused the media of lacking “curiosity” about Biden’s mental decline — as well as constitutional law scholars friendly to Republican concerns. But without any participation from Biden allies or current government officials, the hearing functioned largely as a Republican message-setting exercise.

Democrats did not meaningfully engage. Only Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) delivered opening remarks, both of whom left shortly afterward. Durbin charged the GOP with staging a “political adventure” instead of focusing on substantive oversight issues such as political violence or alleged misconduct by Attorney General Pam Bondi. Welch said the only “cover-up” was from Republicans as they amended Trump’s tax and spending proposal to achieve his domestic policy agenda. 

“The politics that has been embraced in this Congress is the politics of accusation, of demeaning adversaries, of deflecting from engaging in the hard discussion about hard issues and trying to come to some common agreement that’s going to be to the mutual benefit of all of the people that we represent,” Welch said.

In mostly boycotting the proceedings, Democrats sought to take the wind out of Republicans’ sails. While it may have spared the panel of more dramatic cross-party exchanges, Democrats afforded GOP senators another line of attack.

“Their silence and their absence I think only amplified how serious a problem it is in the role that they played,” Schmitt told the Washington Examiner. 

3. Democrats counter with Trump gaffe reel — then walk out

In his brief remarks, Durbin sought to undermine the hearing’s credibility by airing a video montage of gaffes from President Donald Trump’s first term, featuring clips of the 45th president discussing injecting disinfectant to treat COVID-19, claiming windmills caused whale deaths, bungling the name of Venezuela, and claiming illegal immigrants in Ohio were eating residents’ cats and dogs.

“Do any of these statements raise a question of cognitive ability? You be the judge,” Durbin said before leaving the room.

Durbin and Welch, neither of whom questioned the witnesses, departed the room within the hearing’s first 15 minutes after delivering brief opening remarks. Their absence allowed Republican senators and witnesses to proceed uninterrupted. One by one, GOP senators took turns motioning to the row of empty seats where their Democratic colleagues would otherwise sit as evidence of Biden’s party continuing to shield him from scrutiny. 

Welch denounced the hearing’s premise and suggested Congress should return to its “core Article I duties” rather than “armchair diagnosing” political opponents.

Schmitt insisted the event was necessary to expose what he called “shadow governance” during Biden’s presidency. He also played clips of Democrats and former aides describing Biden as “sharp” and rejecting voter concerns about his age. 

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“In contrast,” Schmitt said, “love or hate him, we all know President Trump is in command of his presidency.”

Republicans say more hearings are coming. With House Republicans already digging into Biden’s pardon record, cognitive function, and decision-making timeline in 2022 and 2023, Senate conservatives are signaling that scrutiny of the autopen is only beginning, with subpoenas now likely on the table.