OPINION:
In the news business, a question that arises often about a story is, “Does it have legs?” The meaning of the phrase is simple: Is it likely to remain relevant for an extended period, gaining traction and leading somewhere?
Of course, those “legs” work best when the foundation of the story is “shoe-leather reporting,” meaning journalists hit the pavement and ask every player every relevant question (and, often, a lot of irrelevant ones too).
A good example of a story with legs that reporters followed up with shoe-leather reporting is Watergate, when two young city desk reporters followed a seemingly meaningless break-in at a Washington hotel right into the Oval Office.
So, let’s get something straight once and for all: The Jeffrey Epstein story has no legs. That’s another simple story of power and money getting away with criminal activity. The Epstein files (which actually don’t exist) never contained a “client list.” The skeevy pedophile just had all his molester buddies’ numbers in his phone.
Epstein “committed suicide” (of course, he didn’t) in August 2019. Donald Trump was president for nearly 17 more months after that. Then Joe Biden came in for his four-year term. Neither man did a thing. Whatever may have existed at one time is now long gone. That story has no legs.
But the story about Mr. Biden’s mental acuity — what his top aides, even his wife, knew about whether he was actually capable of leading America (and thereby the world) — has strong legs. In fact, the whole story is out there if some enterprising reporters care to track it down, like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein did with Watergate.
You know there’s some “there” there when prominent players start taking the Fifth, refusing to testify because it may incriminate them. That’s what Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Mr. Biden’s physician, did earlier this month when called before a House committee investigating the former president’s mental capacity. He also took cover behind doctor-patient confidentiality to steer around probing questions about his patient’s fitness for office.
But the doctor isn’t alone; this is now Team Biden’s strategy. Annie Tomasini, a former deputy chief of staff and member of Mr. Biden’s “protective bubble,” decided that rather than address accusations — such as allegedly advising on classified document mishandling or covering up Biden family business dealings — it was safer to plead the Fifth.
Next came Biden family confidant and senior adviser to the first lady, Anthony Bernal, who also pleaded the Fifth when called to testify.
The message is clear: Top Biden aides and confidants fear that they could incriminate themselves if they tell the truth, so they’re hiding behind constitutional protections (which, by the way, were never intended to shield high-level government officials from prosecution).
Watching this administration twist itself into knots to explain away concerns about Mr. Biden’s capabilities is like watching a juggler try to spin 15 plates on broom handles while riding a unicycle. There’s only so long you can balance everything before all those plates come crashing down.
On Monday, yet another shoe dropped when Hunter Biden revealed that his father took the sleep medication Ambien before his disastrous debate with Mr. Trump, which led to the 81-year-old ending his 2024 reelection bid amid pressure from top Democrats.
“I know exactly what happened in that debate,” Hunter Biden said in an interview. “He flew around the world — basically the mileage that he could have flown around the world three times. He’s 81 years old. He’s tired as sh—. They give him Ambien to be able to sleep. He gets up on the stage, and he looks like he’s a deer in the headlights, and it feeds into every f—-ing story that anybody wants to tell.”
Well. There’s something we didn’t know: The president sometimes takes powerful drugs. Dr. O’Connor didn’t include that in any of his reports after Mr. Biden’s physicals at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. This poses the question: What else did he not tell us?
As more people in Bidenworld plead the Fifth, the American people deserve one thing these officials refuse to give: clarity. If the White House physician, top aides and longtime allies can’t or won’t answer critical questions, who will? First lady Jill Biden? Mr. Biden himself?
We’ll have to wait to see whether Rep. James Comer, who is truly doing some shoe-leather reporting of his own, will go down that road. Luckily for America, Mr. Comer knows a story with legs when he sees one.
• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on Twitter @josephcurl.