James Comer Demands Karine Jean-Pierre Come Before Congress On Alleged ‘Usurping’ of Biden’s Presidential Authority

Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee Rep. James Comer on Friday shared online the letter he sent to former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, saying he is “now demanding” that she and ex-top aides to former President Joe Biden come before Congress on the possible “usurping” of Biden’s presidential authority.

Comer and his committee are investigating a variety of issues surrounding “the cover-up of President Joe Biden’s mental decline” and the alleged abuse of the autopen to take actions in Biden’s name, “possibly without” the former president’s consent.

Jean-Pierre has recently announced her departure from the Democratic party and her new book, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines, set for publication in October.

The question of who was making decisions during Biden’s final years in the White House reaches beyond just the committee’s inquiry, with a book from journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson on the subject raising a host of incidents and quotes that clearly indicate an effort to hide the decline, and possible plot to have staffers act as a “shadow” presidency if he were to be reelected.

As part of his investigation, Comer has requested that KJP, former special assistant Ian Sams, former senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, and former Biden chief of staff Jeff Zients sit down with the committee for transcribed interviews about their knowledge of the subjects, which he announced in a post on X.

The text of the letter to Jean-Pierre:

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating the role of former senior White House officials in possibly usurping authority from former President Joe Biden and the ramifications of a White House staff intent on hiding his rapidly worsening mental and physical faculties. The Committee has been investigating this issue for nearly a year. The Committee seeks to understand who made key decisions and exercised the powers of the executive branch during the previous administration, possibly without former President Biden’s consent. The Committee requests your testimony to evaluate your eye-witness account of former President Biden’s decline.

You served as the White House Press Secretary for President Biden during the last two years of his Administration and were a trusted inner-circle confidante as you were promoted to Senior Adviser to the President in October 2024. You were not only near the president daily, but you were “alongside the ranks of the president’s top confidantes like senior advisers Mike Donilon, Steve Richetti and Bruce Reed.” Your assertion, on multiple occasions, that President Biden’s decline was attributable to such tactics as “cheap fakes” or “misinformation” 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.

The Committee believes you have information critical to this investigation and requests your appearance for a transcribed interview on August 18, 2025. By July 4, 2025, please 1) confirm you will attend the transcribed interview scheduled on August 18, 2025, voluntarily, 2) provide an alternative date for the interview to occur within one week of August 18, 2025, or 3) notify the Committee that you will require a subpoena to compel your attendance for a deposition on August 18, 2025. July 4, 2025, is not a deadline to inform the Committee you require additional time to weigh your response. To ask any related follow-up questions, please contact the Committee Majority staff at (202) 225-5074.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

The GOP-run Oversight Committee also made a splashy announcement about the letters on Friday on X.

Notably, some other former White House officials and staff have savaged KJP for her plans to speak out publicly on the subject, with some Democrats insulting her intelligence and others simply ignoring her — a fact which will no doubt factor into Comer’s questioning should she appear before Congress.