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House lawmakers Thursday requested interviews with former President Joseph R. Biden’s doctor and his top White House aides, whom the GOP believes covered up his mental decline and may have signed legislation and pardons on his behalf.
The GOP-led Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent letters to former White House Physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor and four senior Biden White House aides demanding they appear for transcribed interviews amid new reports detailing the severity of Mr. Biden’s cognitive struggles and his sudden diagnosis of Stage IV prostate cancer.
“The cover-up of President Biden’s obvious mental decline is a historic scandal. The American people deserve to know when this decline began, how far it progressed, and who was making critical decisions on his behalf,” said Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican.
Mr. Comer said the panel is weighing legislation “to address the oversight of presidents’ fitness to serve.”
In addition to Dr. O’Connor, Mr. Comer is seeking interviews with Neera Tanden, who served as Mr. Biden’s director of the Domestic Policy Council; Anthony Bernal, the former assistant to the president and senior advisor to first lady Jill Biden; former deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini, and Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations Ashley Williams.
The four were part of the Biden inner circle who, according to new media reports and interviews in recently released books, were among those who worked to hide the former president’s deteriorating cognitive abilities and perhaps took on duties he was not able to perform.
The new revelations have raised questions about Mr. Biden’s frequent use of the presidential auto-pen and whether aides were using it without his knowledge.
An analysis from the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project found an increased use of the autopen “as Mr. Biden’s mental and physical decline accelerated,” and it was used even on days when he was in the Oval Office and could have provided his real signature.
In the letter to Ms. Tomasini, Mr. Comer said the House panel wants answers on her involvement in helping to “stage manage” the president.
“The committee remains concerned that you … were involved in running interference on behalf of the former President and perhaps performing duties exclusively reserved for the President of the United States,” Mr. Comer wrote.
Lawmakers are also eager to talk to Dr. O’Connor, who is Mr. Biden’s longtime doctor and served as White House Physician during his presidency.
Dr. O’Connor wrote glowing health reports during Mr. Biden’s presidency, despite obvious signs of diminishing mental acuity and several public stumbles. The physician was a close family friend and also a business associate to Mr. Biden’s younger brother, James Biden, helping him in a bid to win contracts from the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2017.
“Given your connections with the Biden family, the committee seeks to understand if you contributed to an effort to hide former President Biden’s fitness to serve from the American people,” Mr. Comer wrote.
This is Mr. Comer’s second attempt to grill Biden staffers and his doctor about his presidency and how it was affected by his cognitive difficulties.
Mr. Comer subpoenaed all four individuals in 2024, but the Biden White House refused to allow them to be interviewed by lawmakers.
The scrutiny of Mr. Biden’s term in office intensified this week with the release of a new book about his presidency, “Original Sin,” which details the recollections of hundreds of former White House officials as they dealt with a fading president.
Mr. Biden was 82 years old when he left office in January. Earlier this month, he was diagnosed with late-stage prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones.
An anonymous former Biden aide told authors Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, “Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.”
Mr. Biden denied the allegations ahead of the book release and said the claims that he was checked out mentally were “wrong,” in an interview on ABC’s “The View.”
Mrs. Biden, who appeared alongside him on the left-leaning daytime talk show, said the authors of the book “were not in the White House with us.”
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