House Oversight Committee Subpoenas White House Staffers, Demand They Answer Questions About Biden’s Health
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The Republican-led House Oversight Committee subpoenaed three senior White House staffers on Wednesday amid the ongoing fallout from President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate last month.
Biden repeatedly tripped over his words and struggled to complete sentences during a 90-minute debate with former President Donald Trump. Subsequent interviews Biden has given have not allayed fears among Democrats that he may be unable to defeat Trump. Moreover, some have stated that the president could hurt Democrats in down-ballot races.
Only a handful of congressional Democrats have called on Biden to step aside, but many have reportedly expressed grave concerns in private.
On Wednesday, Axios reported that the Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), issued subpoenas to First Lady Jill Biden’s top aide Anthony Bernal, deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini, and senior adviser Ashley Williams.
Comer stated in the letters to those individuals that he is “concerned” that they “have taken it upon themselves to run the country while the President cannot.”
In a statement to Mediaite, the White House dismissed the subpoenas at a “political stunt.”
“Like everything Congressman Comer has done over the past year, these subpoenas are a baseless political stunt intended for him to get media attention instead of engage in legitimate oversight,” the statement said. “His partisan attacks on the President have been discredited, and now he continues to debase the House by weaponizing subpoenas to get headlines instead of seeking information through the proper constitutional process.”
A White House official confirmed to Mediaite that they had not received any prior requests from Comer about the matter.
Back in February, Axios reported that House Republicans planned a lengthy investigation into Biden’s cognitive abilities.
“The GOP planning includes hearings and possibly even subpoenas for documents and recordings,” the outlet said at the time. That report came shortly after Special Counsel Robert Hur issued his findings in a probe into Biden’s retention of classified documents from when he was a senator and vice president. Hur said Biden “did not remember when he was vice president.”
In June, the House voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a subpoena demanding audio of Biden’s deposition with Hur.
Comer’s committee is also investigating the business ventures of the president’s son, Hunter Biden. House Republicans have alleged the elder Biden was involved and illicitly profited from those dealings, but they have yet to furnish proof of those claims.
