GOP lawmakers on Wednesday accelerated an investigation of ex-Biden administration aides who covered up the former president’s cognitive decline and may have acted on his behalf using the presidential autopen.
The Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent a letter to one of Joseph R. Biden’s longest-serving aides, former senior adviser Mike Donilon, seeking a transcribed interview about reports that he worked to conceal Mr. Biden’s inability to carry out the duties of the presidency while stepping in on decision-making and other matters before cashing in as a campaign aide.
The panel sent letters seeking interviews to three other former aides: chief of staff Ron Klain, communications senior adviser Anita Dunn, deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed and counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti.
The request expands the investigation to nine people who worked closely with Mr. Biden and reportedly played a role in filling in the gaps in his presidency that grew wider as his cognitive decline accelerated.
The panel last month requested interviews with former White House physician and close family friend Kevin O’Connor and three top aides: Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal and Ashley Williams. If they don’t respond to interview dates set to be released this week, committee Chairman James Comer said he’ll subpoena all of them.
The oversight panel is examining whether top aides not only “ran interference” for the former president, but also whether they approved on Mr. Biden’s behalf sweeping pardons for his family and Democrat allies as well as thousands of pardons and commutations to convicted felons, including individuals who killed children and police officers.
The announcement comes a day after the Justice Department’s pardon attorney, Ed Martin, said he’s investigating the Biden administration’s use of the autopen to pardon and commute the sentences of thousands of people.
Mr. Biden left office at age 82, and a series of books and news articles based on interviews with former White House staffers paint the former president as a mentally and physically frail old man who wasn’t up to the task of running the country.
“The cover-up of President Biden’s mental decline is one of the greatest scandals in our nation’s history. These five former senior advisers were eyewitnesses to President Biden’s condition and operations within the Biden White House. They must appear before the House Oversight Committee and provide truthful answers about President Biden’s cognitive state and who was calling the shots,” Mr. Comer, Kentucky Republican, said.
In a statement announcing the expanded probe, Mr. Comer cites the latest Biden presidency tell-all, written by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and correspondent Alex Thompson, which describes the recollections of dozens of mostly anonymous former Biden aides.
“Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board,” one aide recalls, according to the book.
Mr. Klain was considered by many to have been a uniquely powerful chief of staff who helped drive decision-making on a daily basis before he left the job in early 2023.
Mr. Donilon, a Biden aide and ally for four decades, was reportedly among those who rejected internal recommendations that Mr. Biden forgo running for a second term. Mr. Donilon then left the White House to serve as a senior adviser to the Biden 2024 campaign, earning a $4 million paycheck.
In a May appearance on the daytime talk show “The View,” Mr. Biden denied the bombshell claims made in the book by Mr. Tapper and Mr. Thompson that claimed he was too incoherent to run the country.
“They are wrong. There is nothing to sustain that,” Mr. Biden said.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.