Former White House senior adviser Anita Dunn arrived Thursday morning on Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview with House Oversight Committee investigators, as part of the panel’s intensifying inquiry into whether top aides worked to conceal signs of former President Joe Biden’s mental decline.
Dunn declined to answer reporters’ questions as she arrived at the Rayburn House Office Building and walked into the committee room just before 10 a.m.
In a written statement offered by a representative for Dunn, the former aide defended Biden’s fitness for office, saying he remained “fully engaged and clear in his directions and supervision” during her time in the White House. She said that while Biden aged physically — as all presidents do — his decision-making ability and grasp of policy never wavered.
“His ability to probe, to find the weakness in an argument, and to make well-informed decisions did not change during my time in the White House,” she said.
She also pushed back on the core allegation behind the Oversight probe, stating unequivocally, “I did not observe White House staff making key decisions or exercising the powers of the presidency without President Biden’s knowledge or consent.”
Dunn is the 10th former White House official to appear before committee lawyers in the investigation, which has zeroed in on whether Biden’s inner circle circumvented constitutional safeguards and misled the public about the aging president’s fitness to serve. At the center of the inquiry are questions about Biden’s use of the autopen to sign executive actions — and whether some were issued without his full awareness.
Dunn, a longtime Democratic strategist, appeared voluntarily for the transcribed interview, which began shortly after her arrival and was expected to stretch several hours into the afternoon.
Three of the nine officials who previously appeared before the committee did so under subpoena and invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering material questions. Dunn is not under subpoena, meaning she cannot claim the same constitutional protection against self-incrimination. But even in voluntary appearances, committee aides have warned, witnesses can still decline to provide substantive answers.
“She’s running everything,” a former White House adviser told CNN in 2023, describing Dunn’s role during Biden’s reelection campaign. The veteran communications consultant was widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Biden’s political orbit, serving alongside her husband, former Obama White House counsel Bob Bauer, who also acted as Biden’s personal attorney.
“If it’s a room of five people, Anita and Bob are two of them,” one former administration aide told NBC News in January 2023.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who summoned Dunn in a formal letter earlier this year, has said her perspective is key to understanding what the White House knew, and when, about Biden’s cognitive condition.
“You served as former President Biden’s most senior communications adviser,” Comer wrote. “The Committee seeks to understand your observations of former President Biden’s mental acuity and health as one of his closest advisors. If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive’s condition — or to perform his duties — Congress may need to consider a legislative response.”
Like others who have appeared before her, Dunn has known Biden for years and was a central architect of his messaging both in the West Wing and on the campaign trail. She returned to the White House after the 2020 election to help shape Biden’s communications agenda and again became a leading voice during his short-lived 2024 reelection effort.
Dunn’s name also surfaced in reports following Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate performance against Donald Trump, which sparked internal family discussions about whether to fire her and Bauer. NBC News reported at the time that chief of staff Jeff Zients dismissed the speculation as “unfounded and insulting rumors.”
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Despite previous witnesses defending Biden’s mental acuity, some, including former chief of staff Ron Klain, conceded that the 82-year-old president had slowed with age.
The committee’s investigation is expected to continue in the coming weeks with additional interviews and subpoenas, as Republicans weigh possible legislative reforms or referrals stemming from their findings.
The Washington Examiner contacted Comer’s office for a response to Dunn’s opening statement.