Republicans on the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed a former aide to Joe and Jill Biden on Thursday after he abruptly refused to testify about the former’s decline in office.
“Given your close connection with both former President Biden and former First Lady Jill Biden, the Committee sought to understand if you contributed to an effort to hide former President Biden’s fitness to serve from the American people. You have refused the Committee’s request,” a Thursday letter addressed to Biden White House adviser Anthony Bernal reads.
As The Federalist reported, Bernal was originally slated to sit for a transcribed interview before the Oversight Committee on Thursday to discuss what he knew about efforts to conceal Biden’s declining health from the American public. However, after the Trump administration waived executive privilege for several Biden aides (including Bernal), the former Biden official’s legal counsel informed the committee on Wednesday that he would not appear for testimony on the originally agreed-upon date.
According to Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., it was Bernal’s counsel who “offered a transcribed interview on June 26,” which the committee agreed to “as an accommodation” after previously seeking an earlier date. The Kentucky Republican further noted that Bernal’s legal team “also raised concern with the Committee’s practice of providing interview topics only one week in advance, arguing that such a timeline would not provide sufficient time to prepare you for the interview.”
“While the Committee disagrees and believes one week is more than sufficient, to demonstrate good faith, it transmitted interview topics to your counsel on June 13 — nearly two weeks prior to the agreed-upon interview date,” Comer wrote in Thursday’s letter.
The committee chair went on to claim that Bernal’s counsel again reached out to the committee on June 18 to “request a delay of approximately three weeks to prepare” Bernal for his testimony — a request the committee denied. This prompted Oversight lawmakers to press Bernal’s counsel “whether, if [Bernal] were no longer willing to appear for the transcribed interview voluntarily, he was authorized to accept electronic service of a subpoena on [Bernal’s] behalf.”
“Within ten minutes of the Committee’s email, your counsel responded that ‘no subpoena is necessary,’” Comer wrote. “Yesterday, on June 25, your counsel informed the Committee that you were no longer willing to appear voluntarily for the transcribed interview on the agreed-upon date: today, June 26. To avoid any further delays, your appearance before the Committee is now compelled.”
The Oversight Committee’s subpoena demands that Bernal appear for a deposition on July 16.
Bernal’s legal counsel did not respond to The Federalist’s immediate request for comment.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood