The House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena for Anthony Bernal, former assistant to the president and senior adviser to former first lady Jill Biden, on Thursday.
The committee said Bernal refused to appear before the committee to testify in its investigation of the use of the autopen during the Biden administration and former President Joe Biden’s “mental decline cover-up.”
Bernal’s scheduled transcribed interview was supposed to be Thursday, but on Wednesday, he abruptly canceled his appearance shortly after the White House waived executive privilege, which would have allowed witnesses to withhold information from Congress to protect the integrity of the executive branch.
“However, to advance the Committee’s oversight and legislative responsibilities and interests, your testimony is critical,” Chairman James Comer (R-KY) wrote in a letter sent with the subpoena to Bernal Thursday.
The subpoena demands he appear before the committee for a transcribed interview on July 16. Comer said counsel for Bernal asked for a three-week delay for Wednesday’s interview, to which the Oversight Committee declined and then threatened to issue a subpoena.
“Within ten minutes of the Committee’s email, your counsel responded that ‘no subpoena is necessary,’” Comer wrote. “Yesterday, on June 26, your counsel informed the Committee that you were no longer willing to appear voluntarily for the transcribed interview. … To avoid any further delays, your appearance before the Committee is now compelled.”
Bernal was scheduled to be the second of nine closed-door interviews conducted by the Oversight majority and minority counsel for the committee’s investigation into “who was calling the shots” during Biden’s final two years in office, and why the president’s signature was increasingly replaced by an autopen to sign certain executive orders.
The committee’s subpoena of Bernal comes two days after Neera Tanden, former staff secretary, testified on Biden’s use of the autopen.
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“Now that the White House has waived executive privilege, it’s abundantly clear that Anthony Bernal – Jill Biden’s so-called ‘work husband’ – never intended to be transparent about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and the ensuing cover-up,” Comer said Wednesday.
“With no privilege left to hide behind, Mr. Bernal is now running scared, desperate to bury the truth,” Comer added.