Latest news with #Twenty-FifthAmendment
Fox News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Loyal Jill Biden aide's deposition date comes with no sign if he'll appear
A former top White House advisor to ex-first lady Jill Biden was subpoenaed to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Anthony Bernal, former assistant to the president and senior advisor to the first lady, was compelled for a July 16 closed-door deposition after missing a previously agreed-upon interview date late last month. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer's subpoena letter to Bernal read: "The Committee seeks information about your assessment of and relationship with former President Biden to explore whether the time has come for Congress to revisit potential legislation to address the oversight of presidents' fitness to serve pursuant to its authority under Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment or to propose changes to the Twenty-Fifth Amendment itself." While the deposition is moving forward Wednesday morning, it's not guaranteed Bernal will show up until he's seen in the corridors of the House office building where the meeting is taking place. Comer, R-Ky., is investigating allegations that Biden's former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether any executive actions were commissioned via autopen without the president's full knowledge. Biden allies have pushed back against those claims. "Original Sin," a book by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson, positions Bernal as a fiercely protective aide who was dubbed the leader of the "loyalty police" by other former Biden staffers. His LinkedIn page lists him as currently working as Jill Biden's chief of staff in the Transition Office of Former President Joe Biden. Bernal was originally slated to appear last month for a voluntary transcribed interview, but he and his lawyers backtracked after the Trump administration announced it was waiving executive privilege rights for him and several other former White House staffers. If he appears, he will be the fourth ex-Biden aide to sit down with House GOP investigators. Longtime Biden advisor Ashley Williams appeared for a nearly six-hour transcribed interview on Friday, following a brief sit-down by former Biden physician Kevin O'Connor. O'Connor, like Bernal, appeared under subpoena. His closed-door deposition lasted less than 30 minutes, with the doctor invoking the Fifth Amendment on all questions outside his name. O'Connor's lawyers said he did so out of concern for doctor-patient confidentiality. Comer, however, accused him of covering for the octogenarian former president.
22-05-2025
- Health
Top Republican request interviews with Biden's White House physician, former aides on his mental fitness
House Oversight Chairman James Comer is requesting former President Joe Biden's White House physician, Kevin O'Connor, to appear for a transcribed interview as part of an investigation into Biden's mental fitness and use of a presidential autopen while in office. Comer wrote in a letter to O'Connor on Thursday that the panel is probing "the accuracy, transparency, and credibility" of his medical assessments of Biden in light of Biden's recent cancer diagnosis and a new book questioning Biden's mental fitness. "The Committee continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding your assessment in February 2024 that former President Biden was 'a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency," Comer said in his letter to Dr. O'Connor. Comer asked O'Connor to sit for an interview on June 25. Comer sent similar letters to several of Biden's former White House aides, including Neera Tanden, the former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council; Anthony Bernal, the former assistant to Biden and senior adviser for former first lady Jill Biden; Annie Tomasini, former deputy chief of staff to Biden; and Ashley Williams, the former deputy director of Oval Office operations. Comer said the House Oversight Committee had questions regarding whether administration officials were performing presidential duties for Biden. In his letter to Dr. O'Connor, Comer said they were seeking information, in part, to "explore whether the time has come for Congress to revisit potential legislation to address the oversight of presidents' fitness to serve pursuant to its authority under Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment." The requests come as Biden revealed on Sunday that he was diagnosed with an "aggressive" form of prostate cancer. New allegations have also been lodged against Biden that he had mental impairments while president and his administration attempted to cover them up, in the book "Original Sin" by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson. President Donald Trump, earlier this week, said Biden's cancer diagnosis was "very sad" -- though he also slammed his administration and questioned his use of the autopen (a mechanical device to automatically add a signature to a document that's been utilized by several past presidents, including Trump in his first term). "The autopen. This government was illegally run for four years," Trump said. The House Oversight Committee previously requested that Dr. O'Connor and aides sit for interviews while Biden was president, but Biden blocked the request. "Any continued obstruction will be met with swift and decisive action. The American people demand transparency and accountability now,' Comer threatened. "They are wrong. There's nothing to sustain that," Biden said on the show.
