Former Biden aide Annie Tomasini invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a deposition on Friday as part of the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the Biden administration’s use of the autopen.
Tomasini entered the Rayburn House Office Building hearing room around 9:54 a.m. with lawyer Jonathan Su, who was a deputy White House counsel to the former president. Tomasini evaded questions from reporters and exited the hearing room at 10:24 a.m.
During the Biden administration, Tomasini was an assistant and deputy chief of staff to the president. Prior to Biden’s presidency, Tomasini worked for Biden in the Senate, in his vice president’s office, and was the traveling chief of staff for Biden’s 2020 campaign, according to Legistorm.
The House Oversight Committee’s investigation, along with inquiries happening at the White House counsel’s office, the Justice Department, and in the Senate, will try to determine whether Biden was mentally capable of executing the duties of the presidency and authorizing the use of his autopen signature on a wave of pardon and commutation orders in the final days of his term.
According to the book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, which outlines efforts by Biden’s inner circle to shield his declining health from the public, Tomasini was intensely loyal to the Biden family and even moved to Wilmington, Delaware, during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with former first lady Jill Biden’s top aide, Anthony Bernal, giving them “all-time access” to the Bidens’ living quarters. Their allegiance was to the Biden family and not the presidency, according to authors Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.
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Sources told the Washington Examiner that Friday’s deposition was brief because Tomasini invoked the Fifth Amendment, declining to answer questions as part of the committee’s investigation. During a deposition, the witness is required to answer every question, whereas if they appear willingly, they can refuse to answer certain questions.
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Tomasini is the second witness this week to invoke the Fifth Amendment in a deposition and the third of this investigation. Bernal, Jill Biden’s former aide, and physician Kevin O’Connor invoked the Fifth Amendment when they appeared before the committee, with video footage of both released later following their interviews.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) subpoenaed Tomasini on Tuesday after her lawyers unexpectedly requested the subpoena for her to comply, as the committee already had a voluntary interview set for Friday.
With Tomasini being the third witness pleading the Fifth Amendment, Comer criticized the “pattern of key Biden confidants seeking to shield themselves from criminal liability for this potential conspiracy.”
Comer said Tomasini refused the answer questions on Biden’s fitness to serve and pleaded the Fifth when asked if Biden or his family instructed her to lie regarding his health. She also invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked about Biden’s handling of classified documents and his family’s business dealings.
“It’s unbelievable that Ms. Tomasini and others refuse to answer basic questions about President Biden’s fitness to serve,” Comer said. “It’s apparent they would rather hide key information to protect themselves and Joe Biden than be truthful with the American people about this historic scandal.”
Biden has said he made the final call regarding clemency decisions that are now under scrutiny for his autopen signature.
“I made every decision,” Biden told the New York Times.
The committee has conducted two voluntary interviews in the investigation with former Biden aides Neera Tanden and Ashley Williams, with several more set in the coming months. The Trump administration has waived executive privilege for every witness in the investigation. Executive privilege allows a witness to withhold information from Congress to protect the integrity of the executive branch.
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Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) told reporters when O’Connor invoked the Fifth Amendment that it should not be seen as a sign of guilt but rather reality.
“He did what any good lawyer would advise him to do, and it seems like he had two good lawyers in the room today,” Crockett told reporters last week.
Transcripts from the voluntary testimonies are slated to be made public when all the interviews have been concluded.
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The committee announced on Thursday it had scheduled interviews with four more former Biden officials, including: special assistant to the president and senior adviser in the White House Counsel’s Office Ian Sams, deputy assistant to Biden and senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and chief of staff Jeff Zients.
Sams is set to appear on Aug. 21, Bates on Sept. 5, Jean-Pierre on Sept. 12, and Zients on Sept. 18.