Biden's doctor thought cognitive tests were 'meaningless,' ex-aide Bruce Reed told investigators
Reed, who served as White House deputy chief of staff for policy, is the ninth member of former President Joe Biden's inner circle to sit down with House Oversight Committee lawyers.
A source familiar with his interview told Fox News Digital that Reed attributed Biden's disastrous 2024 debate performance against then-candidate Donald Trump to the former president's stutter, a condition that's been well-documented and Biden himself has publicly acknowledged.
But his meandering and seemingly tired demeanor on stage with Trump alarmed both Democrats and media pundits, who saw it as a glaring sign of Biden's advanced age. It precipitated both a public and private push by left-wing lawmakers to get Biden to drop out of the race – which he did in July 2024.
When asked whether public concerns about Biden's mental acuity were legitimate, however, the source told Fox News Digital that Reed said he believes Americans should not have had any concerns about the ex-president's mental faculties.
Reed also told investigators that "the president's communications team anticipated that the issue of a cognitive test would likely be raised" in Biden's interview with ABC News host George Stephanopoulos following the debate.
"Mr. Reed further explained that President Biden's physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, dismissed cognitive tests as 'meaningless,'" the source said.
O'Connor was among the first former White House officials summoned by House investigators, and sat down with them last month after being compelled via subpoena.
But his sit-down lasted less than an hour, with the doctor opting to invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering all questions but his name. His lawyers said at the time that was due to concerns about violating doctor-patient confidentiality.
In his own interview Tuesday, Reed also defended the Biden 2024 campaign's preference to hold the debate earlier than typical for a presidential cycle, the source said.
"During his interview, Mr. Reed stated that the decision to hold the debate early was a deliberate strategy to get ahead of early voting and the Olympics. He emphasized that the campaign's push for the early debate was unrelated to concerns about President Biden's age," the source said.
Excerpts of Reed's opening statement to investigators, obtained by Fox News Digital via a second source familiar with the interview, show he emphatically defended Biden's cognitive abilities.
"While I can only speak to my own observations, I had the benefit of working with President Biden nearly every day of his presidency. Despite his age, President Biden maintained an unrelenting work ethic, embraced complex policy issues, and approached decisions with diligence and deliberation," Reed said, according to the source.
Reed also described Biden as "a demanding boss who routinely grilled staff members on a topic until he reached the limits of our knowledge so he could judge whether to have confidence in our advice," though "that didn't mean he'd take it."
"From the first days in the White House to the last, President Biden governed the same way he'd gotten there, by trusting his own values and instincts," Reed said, according to the source.
"There is no tougher test than the presidency: President Biden asked tough questions, made tough decisions, and led his country well in challenging times for the nation and the world."
Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is probing whether Biden's senior aides worked to cover up evidence of mental decline in the former president, and whether that meant Biden was not making the final decision on executive matters signed by autopen.
Of particular interest to Comer is the myriad of clemency orders Biden signed in the latter half of his presidency, though the former president told The New York Times last month that he was behind every decision.
His allies have also dismissed Comer's probe as purely political.
Fox News Digital reached out to Reed's counsel and lawyers for O'Connor for comment but did not hear back by press time.
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