Joe Biden’s first White House chief of staff and longtime confidante told House of Representatives investigators Thursday that Biden became less energetic in office and his memory had gotten worse but that he had the mental acuity for the job.
However, Ron Klain said in a transcribed interview with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that two-time presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Biden National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan approached him and stated they believed Biden was not politically viable for 2024.
During a break during his transcribed interview, Klain declined to take questions from Daily Signal reporters.
Sullivan told Klain that Biden was less effective in 2024 compared to 2022, according to a source familiar with Klain’s transcribed interview with the oversight panel.
Klain also told the committee Biden had enough “mental sharpness,” though he acknowledged he was “less energetic and more forgetful.”
Klain said Biden appeared tired and ill before the June 2024 debate with his opponent and eventual winner, Donald Trump. The debate marked the point Democrats began pressuring Biden to exit the presidential race.
Klain’s voluntary cooperation with the Oversight Committee’s probe comes just over one year after Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency.
Klain said he did not know Biden was taking Ambien, a medication used to treat insomnia, ahead of the debate.
The Oversight Committee is investigating Biden’s apparent cognitive decline and is probing the potential unauthorized issuance of sweeping pardons and other executive actions by those other than Biden himself.
Klain is among several former Biden White House officials who agreed voluntarily to answer questions from the committee, avoiding a subpoena.
A longtime operative in Democrat politics, Klain was also Biden’s chief of staff when he was vice president and later was the Ebola virus response coordinator in the Barack Obama White House. Well before that, Klaine was chief of staff for Vice President Al Gore.
After two other potential witnesses refused to appear before the committee to answer questions, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., issued subpoenas to compel their appearance before the committee. One subpoena was to Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the former White House physician. The other was to Anthony Bernal, former senior adviser to first lady Jill Biden. Both have been compelled to appear this month.