As we've seen this past week, concerns about former President Joe Biden and who was running the country while he was in office haven't gone away simply because he's been succeeded by President Donald Trump. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who invesigated the Biden-Harris administration throughout the 118th Congress, is following through on his announcement from last week to continue the investigation. He's now calling on Biden's physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, as well as former White House aides to appear for transcribed interviews.
Dr. O'Connor, as well as Former Director of the Domestic Policy Council Neera Tanden, Former Assistant to the President and 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 Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations Ashley Williams all received letters on Thursday from Comer.
In a letter to O'Connor, the past comes back to haunt the White House physician, including with regards to his own words and assessments about Biden.
"The Committee first wrote to you about your medical assessments (and possible conflicts of interests inherent to them) on July 7, 2024, but Biden White House officials stalled all attempts by the Committee to obtain your testimony. In light of mounting evidence that confirms the Committee’s initial observation that President Biden was significantly unwell while serving in office, the Committee seeks information to ensure accurate information was provided to the American people and your health reports were not subject to any improper influence. Therefore, the Committee requests your appearance for a transcribed interview," Comer's letter reminds, as he then goes up to bring up what the physician's said about Biden.
Such reminders will sound familiar, from a memo that O'Connor sent to then White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on February 28 of last year as well as calls for and even threats of using the 25th Amendment against Biden, and the partial release from last week of the audio between Hur and Biden.
As the letter continues:
The Committee continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding your assessment in February 2024 that former President Biden was “a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.” Further, the Committee remains interested in whether your financial relationship with the Biden family affected your assessment of former President Biden’s physical and mental fitness to fulfill his duties as President. 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.
The audio recording from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with former President Biden is a startling reminder of the President’s rapidly deteriorating mental and physical condition. Now, Axios reports that members of former President Biden’s Cabinet voiced
concerns about his ability to respond to a crisis due to his declining health. This newly released information will be examined by the Committee.The Committee seeks information about your assessment of and relationship with former President Biden to explore whether the time has come for Congress to revisit potential legislation to address the oversight of presidents’ fitness to serve pursuant to its authority under Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. This investigation continues to inform the Committee about whether additional reforms or enhancements to financial disclosures of White House employees, including the Physician to the President, are necessary.
The letters to White House aides also referenced the audio from the Hur tapes, and the concerns those brought with it.
"While the Committee has been investigating this issue for nearly a year, newfound details regarding President Biden’s obvious decline demand renewed scrutiny of White House personnel actions and knowledge of relevant information over the course of the prior administration. The Committee seeks to understand who made key decisions and exercised the powers of the executive branch during the Biden Administration. As former Director of the Domestic Policy Council (DPC) and former White House Staff Secretary, you were potentially involved in and should have knowledge of these decisions. Therefore, the Committee requests your appearance for a transcribed interview," Comer's letter to Tanden mentions in part.
Tanden looks to indeed have been "involved" and "knowledge of these decisions." She may even have been the staff member involved with the autopen, which is also a focus of Comer's investigation.
The disastrous June 27 debate between Biden and Trump, which led to calls for using the 25th Amendment from Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) the very next day, is also referenced. So is the role then First Lady Jill Biden and Hunter Biden played. They not only decided Biden would stay in the race for as long as he did, but the then first lady was involved in leading Cabinet meetings.
As the letter also mentions:
In the immediate months after former President Biden’s “disastrous” debate performance in June 2024—where officials in the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House voiced concerns about the President’s ability to lead the country—questions continued to mount about who in the White House was actually exercising the authority of thePresident of the United States. These concerns only intensified with reports of Hunter Biden joining staff meetings and First Lady Jill Biden sitting at the head of the table of a Cabinet, meeting. The question of whether former President Biden executed his duties—and, if not, who in fact did—remains an investigative focus of this Committee.
The letters to Tanden, as well as other White House aides, are specific to their titles but also similar in nature with the text.
🔗 Read the press release and letters to top Biden aides: https://t.co/482iH27Nwf
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) May 22, 2025
This isn't the first time that the chairman is looking to hear from those so close to the now former president. Although Comer requested a transcribed interview with Dr. O'Connor, and even subpoenaed Tomasini, Bernal, and Williams last Congress, the Biden White House refused to make them available, a press release from Comer's office also pointed out. Then Attorney General Merrick Garland also defied a subpoena to release the audio recordings of the interviews that Special Counsel Robert Hur conducted with Biden as president, and was even held in contempt of Congress for it, though the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed Garland was innocent and did not act on it.
"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. Key executive actions signed by autopen, such as sweeping pardons for the Biden Crime Family, must be examined considering President Biden’s diminished capacity," Comer also said in a statement. "Today, we are calling on President Biden’s physician and former White House advisors to participate in transcribed interviews so we can begin to uncover the truth. In the last Congress, the Biden White House blocked these individuals from providing testimony to the Oversight Committee as part of the effort to cover-up Biden’s declining health. Any continued obstruction will be met with swift and decisive action. The American people demand transparency and accountability now."
In addition to such an investigation, a video clip shared last Thursday, of Biden's Cabinet covering up for him, is the pinned post for the House Oversight Committee Republicans' X account.
Biden’s own Cabinet said he was “on top of his game.”
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) May 15, 2025
Now Jake Tapper cashes in and says they privately admitted he was “disoriented,” “out of it,” and kept away from them.
Watch what they told you—and what they really knew. 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/bvSJdHrZI8
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