Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and other top Democratic White House aides just got brutal news Thursday — they’re being called in to testify before House investigators as the investigation into former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and autopen abuse rapidly expands.
Jean-Pierre is scheduled to sit down with House Oversight Committee investigators behind closed doors on September 12, joining a growing list of Biden officials being questioned about the administration’s efforts to hide the president’s obvious mental and physical decline while using an autopen to sign official documents — sometimes without his knowledge.
The four officials who have accepted interviews include Ian Sams, former special assistant to the president and senior advisor in the White House Counsel’s Office, scheduled for August 21; Andrew Bates, former deputy assistant to the president and senior deputy press secretary, scheduled for September 5; and Jeff Zients, former White House chief of staff, scheduled for September 18.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is leading the investigation into allegations that Biden’s former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether executive actions during that time were commissioned via autopen without the president’s knowledge.
In recent interviews, Biden’s closest associates have refused to testify under oath and invoked their U.S. Constitutional right against self incrimination.
Anthony Bernal, dubbed Jill Biden’s “work husband,” became the latest former White House aide to invoke his Fifth Amendment right when questioned under oath by Congress.
Biden’s former personal physician Kevin O’Connor also pleaded the Fifth when asked if he was ever told to “lie about the president’s health” or believed the president was “unfit to execute his duties.”
“During his deposition today, Mr. Bernal pleaded the Fifth when asked if any unelected official or family members executed the duties of the President and if Joe Biden ever instructed him to lie about his health,” Comer said after Bernal’s apperance.
Comer had issued a subpoena for Bernal after he refused to sit for a transcribed interview. In his subpoena letter, Comer wrote:
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. However, to advance the Committee’s oversight and legislative responsibilities and interests, your testimony is critical.
The investigation centers on explosive revelations about the Biden White House’s use of an autopen to sign official documents.
Biden recently told The New York Times that he “made every decision” regarding executive clemencies issued during his term, but emails showed White House chief of staff Jeff Zients wielded the autopen to approve 25 warrants for pardons and commutations between December and January.
In some cases, staff secretary Stefanie Feldman used only emails from other aides claiming they had the president’s approval before using the autopen for signatures, even when the aides who drafted the orders weren’t in the room with Biden.
President Donald Trump has called the alleged autopen abuse criminal.
“That’s a crime to do that to the country,” Trump said previously. “I don’t think he knew he was doing it. I think that people took over the autopen, they got things signed that shouldn’t have been signed.”
Jean-Pierre’s testimony could prove particularly damaging since she served as the public face of the Biden administration, repeatedly defending the president’s fitness for office while participating in efforts to conceal his cognitive decline with the help from the mainstream media.
Jeff Zients’ scheduled appearance on September 18 also represents a significant witness, as emails directly implicated him in wielding the autopen to approve presidential pardons. His testimony could provide the smoking gun evidence of who was actually running the Biden White House while the president was cognitively compromised.
With Zients’ appearance, both former Biden chiefs of staff will have met with House investigators. Ronald Klain, who led Biden’s White House staff during the earlier part of his term, accepted an interview under oath later this month.
Rep. Byron Donalds called Bernal’s refusal to answer questions evidence of “corruption at the highest level.”
“If you cannot, say, answer a simple question about Joe Biden’s capabilities, then that further demonstrates that he was not in charge of his administration,” Donalds said. “And if he was not in charge of his administration, then every order, every bill that was signed, every memorandum, as far as I’m concerned, are null and void.”
Donalds has publicly called for Comer to subpoena former first lady Jill Biden after Bernal’s deposition on Wednesday, indicating that the investigation may ultimately target the former first lady herself.
“We’re gonna continue our investigation. I think that the American people are concerned,” Comer said. “They’re concerned that there were people making decisions in the White House that were not only unelected but no one to this day knows who they were.”
“This is a historic scandal and Americans demand transparency and accountability,” Comer said.