Jill Biden's ‘work husband' Anthony Bernal takes the Fifth in House GOP probe of Biden health cover-up
Bernal — who, like Joe Biden's former personal physician Kevin O'Connor, appeared for a deposition — invoked his right against self-incrimination and departed without taking reporter questions.
Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said he only got to ask two questions of the Biden family confidant: 'Was Joe Biden fit to exercise the duties of the president?' and 'Did any unelected official or family member execute the duties of the presidency?'
3 Anthony Bernal, aide to former first lady Jill Biden, arrives to testify before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday, July 16, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
AP
3 Bernal became the second former White House aide to plead the Fifth Amendment when questioned about former President Biden's cognitive decline.
AP
'I think that the American people are concerned,' Comer added. '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.'
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) said Bernal's hasty retreat implicates him in '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 told reporters.
'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.'
3 Bernal departed without taking reporter questions.
AP
Donalds, who is running for governor of Florida next year, added that Jill Biden herself should 'come in here and answer questions' after her deputy declined to do so.
The Oversight chairman noted that his panel would continue with its transcribed interviews and depositions of key Biden White House aides to determine the scale of the purported cover-up of the president's mental decline, as well as potential 'illegal use of the autopen' to grant pardons.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
8 minutes ago
- Axios
Tariff revenue is spiking. But who exactly is paying?
Tariffs are making money for the U.S. government, but it remains hard to tell who is footing the bill. Why it matters: Knowing who is paying the tariffs will help investors gauge which companies will see profits squeezed — or protected — as trade tensions continue. By the numbers: The government generated an extra $20 billion for each of the last two months, which could total $240 billion in additional revenue this year, according to Peter Tchir, head of macro strategy at Academy Securities. Where it's from: Motor vehicles brought in $3.4 billion, or over 14% of the $24.2 billion in total tariff revenue for May, according to data reviewed by Jason Miller, interim chair of supply chain management at Michigan State University. Vehicle parts added $1.2 billion in tariff revenue, while lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries contributed nearly $480 million. Case in point: GM disclosed $1.1 billion in tariff costs for the second quarter, which aligns with government data, Miller noted. European automaker Volkswagen reported a $1.5 billion tariff hit and cut its outlook, citing fallout from President Trump's trade war. Zoom out: What matters isn't just the tariff rate, but who pays along the chain: a foreign exporter, a U.S. importer, a distributor, or ultimately, the American consumer. Within autos, "there just isn't the demand right now in order to justify essentially charging higher rates," Miller told Axios, which means that companies like GM and Ford may struggle to pass costs to consumers. Zoom in: There are potential winners and losers in this trade war. Industrials are exposed, said David Bianco, chief investment officer for the Americas at DWS, with $1 trillion in managed assets. The biggest retailers will "gain market share" because they can negotiate favorable terms with suppliers, while smaller firms will struggle, he told Axios. Health care, the worst-performing sector year-to-date, may continue lagging as inflation weighs on consumers. Nvidia and other high-margin technology companies with carveouts are less vulnerable, according to Miller. How it works: Who ultimately pays for the tariffs depends on supply and demand dynamics. There are two key factors. Consumer demand: Weak demand means less pricing power, and companies may have to absorb the cost or risk losing customers. Exporter supply: Retailers have more flexibility to shift supply chains, while manufacturers of complex goods are often locked in. Data show retailers more often eat tariff costs than exporters of machines, which require more intricate work and quality control, leaving exporters in a power position on pricing. Yes, but: Pricing isn't static. Many companies set prices annually, which means the full effect may not be clear until next year.
San Francisco Chronicle
8 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Georgia Republican Mike Collins joins field seeking to challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2026
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republican Mike Collins said Monday that he will join the field challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in the state the GOP has named as their top target to add a Senate seat in 2026. A second-term member of Congress from a district east of Atlanta, Collins becomes the newest top Republican to get into the primary race. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter is already running, while state Insurance Commissioner John King dropped out. Also expected to run is former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley. 'Jon Ossoff must go,' Collins said in a July 8 video. 'He certainly doesn't represent the vast majority of Georgians. He certainly doesn't represent the Georgia values that I cherish so much. Collins had been mulling a run since Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced in May that he would not run against Ossoff, depriving Republicans of their top choice to challenge a senator who won the 2021 runoff in the wake of the 2020 election. Twin victories by Ossoff and Raphael Warnock gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate at the time and. It was the first time since 2002 that Georgia had two Democratic senators. Although Democrats have made Georgia increasingly competitive, Collins is among those who view Ossoff's election as a fluke and proclaim that the state is still fundamentally conservative. 'We deserve to have two U.S. senators who are out there fighting for us, and protecting us, not some woke overlords or some far-left-wing California donor base," Collins said in the video. The 58-year-old Collins is the son of the late Mac Collins, who was an eight-term congressman who began his political career as a Democrat before becoming a Republican. Mike Collins is a co-owner of a family trucking firm and made a losing bid for Congress in 2014. He reemerged to win a 2022 race for an open seat, portraying himself as an everyman trucker and hard-core Donald Trump acolyte. With a big, booming personality and an edgy social media presence, Collins calls himself a 'MAGA workhorse.' Kemp and Trump have met and said they would try to agree on a preferred candidate. Anyone anointed by both of them would be stamped as the Republican front-runner. Kemp told Collins and others he would support Dooley, but Trump isn't ready to endorse yet. Collins has portrayed his interest in the Senate as seeking to best serve Trump 'I am going to continue to talk with President Trump and his team just about where we can be the best, beneficial, most help in this mission to make sure we get a Republican in the U.S. Senate from Georgia," Collins said in the July 8 video. Collins' district stretches across 18 counties from the eastern suburbs of Atlanta through Athens. His best-known legislative accomplishment is a law passed this year to require the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to detain undocumented immigrants charged with theft. That was a response to the 2024 murder of Laken Riley, a nursing student who was killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan man who federal officials said entered the U.S. illegally and was allowed to stay while he pursued his immigration case. The representative portrays himself as someone who can get things done, but he often takes a combative approach on social media. In March 2024 he was criticized for promoting a post from an antisemitic account that attacked a Jewish journalist as a 'garbage human.' In February 2024, his account on the social media platform X was temporarily suspended after he suggested that someone who had been arrested by federal authorities should be transported by 'Pinochet Air,' a reference to people who were thrown to their deaths from helicopters during the rule of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. That strategy could help Collins draw attention to wield against Ossoff — the only Democratic Senate incumbent seeking reelection in 2026 who represents a state Trump won. The race has already begun. Ossoff held his second campaign rally July 12 in Savannah. National Republicans have advertised against Ossoff's opposition to a bill barring schools from allowing transgender athletes to participate in women's sports. Ossoff raised $21 million in the first six months of this year and had $15.5 million in cash on June 30. But that's only the beginning. Ossoff and Warnock's twin Senate victories in 2021 cost more than $900 million combined, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks political spending. Warnock's 2022 reelection over Republican Herschel Walker cost more than $470 million, OpenSecrets found.
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Rep. Robert Garcia said lawmakers planned to subpoena people who had relationships with the disgraced financier.
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee said he and his fellow lawmakers are 'absolutely' going to subpoena people with connections to Jeffrey Epstein, potentially including Steve Bannon. The former Trump White House strategist has about 15 hours of unreleased video footage of Epstein that was shot in 2019, before the disgraced financier was arrested on sex-trafficking charges, according to Epstein's brother Mark. The two were working together on a documentary to rehabilitate Jeffrey Epstein's reputation, his brother said. Bannon has since released a two-minute trailer for The Monsters: Epstein's Life Among the Global Elite, which he now says will be released as a five-part series early next year. Solve the daily Crossword
