‘Historic scandal’: House Republicans want to have a chat with Biden’s top physician

"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 Chairman James Comer.

Jan. 31, 2024: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to reporters before departing on Marine One. (Shutterstock)

(Daily Caller News Foundation) — Congressional Republicans are renewing their demands for answers from former President Joe Biden’s physician and former top White House aides about the concealment of his cognitive decline and frequent use of autopen for crucial decisions.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer sent letters Thursday to Biden physician Kevin O’Connor and four other top aides seeking transcribed interviews.

The committee seeks information about the erosion of the president’s mental faculties and whether the president’s inner coterie covertly became the key decision-makers, the Kentucky Republican said.

The letters request that the following aides appear for transcribed interviews in June: O’Connor; former director of the Domestic Policy Council Neera Tanden; former senior advisor to the First Lady Anthony Bernal; former assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini; and former special assistant to the president and director of Oval Office operations Ashley Williams.

“The cover-up of President Biden’s obvious mental decline is a historic scandal,” Comer said in a statement. “The American people deserve to know when this decline began, how far it progressed, and who was making critical decisions on his behalf.”

Comer first subpoenaed Tomasini, Bernal and Williams in July 2024 in the wake of that year’s June presidential debate in which Biden was often incoherent and appeared to be confused.

But the Biden White House flouted the subpoenas, declining to make the aides available for depositions or interviews.

O’Connor and Bernal could not be reached for comment. Tanden, Tomasini, and Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letters follow a surprise announcement by Biden’s personal office Sunday that the former president suffers from advanced prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones. The symptoms and spread of Biden’s cancer suggest it has been progressing for years, some doctors claim, raising further concerns about the extent of the coverup of Biden’s health problems.

O’Connor has released three public medical reports on Biden’s health and none mentioned screenings for prostate cancer.

Biden’s last known Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test, which would have detected the cancer, was in 2014, according to a separate statement released Tuesday.

“President Biden’s last known PSA was in 2014,” the statement read. “Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer.”

The statement was attributed to the Biden office rather than O’Connor or any other physician.

Comer said that the frequent use of autopen raised questions about the legitimacy of some of Biden’s executive orders, namely the preemptive pardons of his son, Hunter Biden; his brother James and his wife, Sara; his sister, Valerie, and her husband, John Owens; and his brother Francis.

Pardons issued on Jan. 19, 2025, Biden’s final day in office, all have identical signatures, according to an analysis by the Oversight Project.

“Any continued obstruction will be met with swift and decisive action,” Comer said in the statement Thursday.

This article was originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation

 

Emily Kopp