House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) issued a subpoena Tuesday to former White House deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini as part of an escalating investigation into former President Joe Biden’s mental fitness and final clemency decisions while in office.
The committee had originally scheduled a voluntary interview with Tomasini for Friday. Although her lawyers previously said she would comply voluntarily, they unexpectedly requested on Monday that the panel issue a subpoena to compel her appearance later this week, according to the committee.
In a cover letter accompanying the subpoena, Comer wrote that Tomasini’s testimony is needed to assess Biden’s cognitive state and explore whether Congress should consider legislation “to address the oversight of presidents’ fitness to serve pursuant to its authority under Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, or to propose changes to the Twenty-Fifth Amendment itself.”
Tomasini is one of several former aides under scrutiny as House Republicans deepen their investigation into Biden’s use of an autopen to issue pardons and commutations in his final days in office. Others who have spoken with the committee include former aides Neera Tanden and Ashley Williams. Former first lady Jill Biden’s longtime adviser, Anthony Bernal, and the former president’s personal physician, Kevin O’Connor, however, reversed their agreements to cooperate and were later subpoenaed. Bernal is scheduled to appear for an interview on Wednesday, one week after O’Connor pleaded the Fifth Amendment under closed-door questioning.
The Oversight Committee’s work is running parallel to a Senate investigation led by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), the chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee’s investigative subpanel. Johnson told the Washington Examiner in an interview that he will soon demand access to thousands of emails sent in the final days of Biden’s presidency, which may reveal how senior officials handled clemency petitions and signed documents on Biden’s behalf.
The National Archives has already turned over many of those emails to the Justice Department as part of a criminal inquiry requested by President Donald Trump, who alleges that the Biden team used an autopen without proper authorization to shield top allies and family members from prosecution.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, a spokesperson for the National Archives said that, under the Presidential Records Act, “there are provisions allowing for special access by Congress, the courts, and the incumbent President.” For other Freedom of Information Act requests by the public, there is a five-year delay following the end of an administration.
House investigators are also expected to interview Ron Klain, Biden’s former chief of staff, who played a key role in the administration’s final clemency decisions. Biden, 82, has publicly claimed he personally approved “every single” clemency action, despite records showing staff filtered and implemented instructions they said were conveyed orally or through intermediaries, such as former chief of staff Jeff Zients and other aides.
SENATE GOP TO TARGET CLEMENCY EMAILS IN EXPANDING BIDEN INVESTIGATION
While Johnson continues to rely on voluntary interviews to build a “historical record,” Comer’s strategy has become more aggressive as witnesses balk or delay.
The GOP-controlled House Oversight Committee is expected to conduct several more transcribed interviews in the coming weeks as part of its broader investigation into Biden’s cognitive abilities and potential constitutional reforms, including an interview with former White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre, Zients, and several others.