Joe Biden’s former White House physician pleaded the fifth and refused to answer the questions during a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee, Wednesday.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Dr. Kenneth O’Connor last month as part of a their investigation into the alleged cover-up of Biden’s deteriorating health and his mental fitness as president.

As White House physician, Dr. O’Connor repeatedly gave Biden a clean bill of health, telling reporters as late as August 2024 that Biden’s cognitive health was “excellent.”

“It’s now clear there was a conspiracy to cover up President Biden’s cognitive decline after Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician and family business associate, refused to answer any questions and chose to hide behind the fifth amendment,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement after the deposition. “The American people demand transparency but Dr. O’Connor would rather conceal the truth.”

The chairman noted that the doctor took the fifth “when asked if he was told to lie about President Biden’s health and whether he was fit to be President of the United States.”

Comer has previously suggested that O’Connor’s “medical assessments have been potentially influenced by his business pursuits with the Biden family.”

O’Connor’s lawyer David Schertler said in a statement Wednesday that the doctor had “no choice” but to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights in testimony before the committee, citing O’Connor’s responsibilities to protect patient privacy and the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the use of an autopen in Biden’s White House.

Biden continues to maintain that he was fully in charge at the White House and never suffered from cognitive issues while in office, calling the claims to the contrary “ridiculous and false.”

“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations,” Biden said in a statement last month.  “Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

As part of the Oversight Committee’s sweeping investigation, Comer has demanded that several former high-ranking staffers in Joe Biden’s White House appear for transcribed interviews, including Jill Biden’s “scary” Chief of Staff Anthony Bernal, former director of the Domestic Policy Council Neera Tanden, former assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini, and former deputy director of Oval Office operations Ashley Williams.

According to Comer, all of these former White House staffers worked “behind the scenes” and “ran interference for President Biden” for four years to keep the extent of his cognitive difficulties secret.

“Congress must assess legislative solutions to prevent such a coverup from happening again,” Comer said in his statement Wednesday. “We will continue to interview more Biden White House aides to get the answers Americans deserve.”

The House Oversight Committee released video footage of O’Connor’s deposition Wednesday afternoon on X.