The House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the use of the autopen during former President Joe Biden’s administration is ramping up, with the panel slated to conduct several more interviews in the coming weeks.
The committee’s interviews, which seek to investigate allegations that there was a cover-up of the former president’s “mental decline,” will, at least, continue until August. Multiple members of Biden’s former senior staff will appear before the Oversight Committee’s majority and minority counsel for closed-door, transcribed interviews that are slated to be released after the investigation concludes.
Former Jill Biden aide Anthony Bernal has been subpoenaed to appear before the committee on July 16 after refusing to do so last month. His refusal came after President Donald Trump waived executive privilege for the witnesses, which would have allowed them to withhold information from Congress to protect the integrity of the executive branch.
BIDEN AUTOPEN USE: WHAT TO KNOW AS TRUMP ORDERS AN INVESTIGATION INTO HIS PREDECESSOR
“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,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) wrote after Bernal chose not to testify.
Six transcribed interviews will take place over the next few weeks with former Assistant to the President and Deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini on July 18; former chief of staff Ronald Klain on July 24; former Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti on July 30; former Senior Advisor to the President Mike Donilon on July 31; former Deputy chief of staff for Policy Bruce Reed on Aug. 5; and former Senior Advisor to the President for Communications Anita Dunn on Aug. 7.
The chairman has requested four more aides to appear before the committee’s majority and minority counsel for closed-door, transcribed interviews. The interview dates for press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, former Biden communication aides Ian Sams and Andrew Bates, and former chief of staff Jeff Zients have not yet been set.
Three interviews have taken place thus far. The first witness, Neera Tanden, appeared before the committee last month, where she testified for over four hours. Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, appeared for his deposition last Wednesday after being subpoenaed by Comer. O’Connor invoked his Fifth Amendment right in the first two questions before the hearing wrapped up, with video of the deposition posted that night.
“We want to emphasize that asserting the Fifth Amendment privilege does not imply that Dr. O’Connor has committed any crime,” his lawyers, David Schertler and Mark MacDougall, said in the statement obtained by the Washington Examiner following the hearing.
Ashley Williams, a top Joe Biden aide, testified before the committee Friday for around five hours before the counsel and did not take any questions from reporters.
In her testimony, Williams said she “did not recall” multiple instances during her time in the White House, a source familiar told the Washington Examiner. That included whether teleprompters were used in Cabinet meetings, discussions about Biden using a wheelchair, a cognitive test, and discussions of the mental or physical decline of Biden.
Only a handful of members have attended these hearings. Comer attended O’Connor and Tanden’s, but not Williams’s. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (R-TX) attended O’Connor and William’s, where she called out the chairman for not showing up.
“Right now, the Republicans continue to act as if this is a main priority, yet none of them are showing up,” Crockett told reporters Friday. “I do think that it is important that I show up because if they are going to make allegations about the former commander in chief, egregious allegations as they continue to wage, I want to make sure that I’m in the room to correct the record.”
House Oversight Democrats have continuously dismissed the allegations and pushed back on the House GOP effort, saying they are trying to divert attention away from things that matter.
“The only person’s health that Republicans care about is Joe Biden’s – even as 17 million Americans lose access to affordable healthcare thanks to their big budget betrayal,” House Oversight ranking member Robert Garcia wrote in a statement this week.
Following the release of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s book, ‘Original Sin,’ Republicans have dug into their investigation into the Biden administration. Comer has continuously pressed into the former president’s use of an autopen for pardons and executive orders, along with an investigation into the “cover-up” of his “mental decline.”
BIDEN AIDE ASHLEY WILLIAMS APPEARS FOR HOUSE OVERSIGHT AUTOPEN INVESTIGATION
“This is an investigation of the autopen, and this is an investigation to determine whether or not Joe Biden knew who was signing, he knew what was being signed, using his signature on the auto pen,” Comer told reporters Wednesday.
Comer told the Washington Examiner last month that the transcripts are slated to be made public, but no interviews will be released before all of them have concluded. Committee staff usually conduct these closed-door interviews, with both parties granted extended time for questioning.