Comer demands interviews with former top Biden aides as part of probe into mental acuity
Comer on Wednesday sent letters to former chief-of-staff Ron Klain, senior adviser Anita Dunn, former counselor Steve Ricchetti, and aides Michael Donilon and Bruce Reed.
'The scope of your responsibilities—both official and otherwise—and personal interactions within the Oval Office cannot go without investigation. If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive's condition—or to perform his duties—Congress may need to consider a legislative response,' Comer wrote in a letter to Klain.
While the letters demand a transcribed interview, they also ask the recipient if 'you will require a subpoena to compel your attendance.'
The Hill reached out to Klain and a representative for Dunn for comment but was not immediately able to reach the other aides for comment.
Comer during the last Congress had requested interviews with three other White House aides, as well as Biden's physician.
New books, including 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,' have reignited debate about Biden's mental acuity while in office and whether he experienced cognitive decline.
Since President Trump took office, the GOP has taken a number of steps focusing on Biden.
The White House confirmed Tuesday that Pardon Attorney Ed Martin would be reviewing Biden's pardons for his family members, as well as some other clemencies granted during his final days in office.
And the Justice Department last month released the full tapes of Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur, one in which the attorney said Biden appeared to have memory lapses. While president, Biden released the full transcript of the conversation.
Biden, through a spokesperson, has rejected claims he did not have the mental acuity to manage the presidency.
'We continue to await anything that shows where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or where national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job,' a spokesperson said in response to the book release.
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