WASHINGTON – Four ex-aides to Joe Biden will testify in private over the next month before the House Oversight Committee as part of Republicans’ investigation into the former president’s mental acuity.
Neera Tanden, the former director of the White House’s Domestic Policy Council, is scheduled to answer questions on June 24. Anthony Bernal, former senior advisor to First Lady Jill Biden, has a June 26 session with the panel. The others are former special assistant to the president Ashley Williams on July 11, and Annie Tomasini, former deputy chief of staff, on July 18.
The four former administration officials agreed to voluntary transcribed interviews with the panel behind closed doors, during which Republicans and Democrats will each have an hour to ask questions.
“This is a very serious issue. President Trump tweeted out [June 4] that it’s the biggest scandal in the history of America,” Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, the chairman of the House panel, told USA TODAY. “So we’re going to get answers.”
Comer said his committee plans to issue a report on its findings along with the transcripts of the interviews once they are completed.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Biden for using an autopen amid fresh allegations that the ex-president’s health was in decline while he was in office. He has accused former White House aides, without evidence, of signing documents, including presidential pardons, without Biden’s knowledge.
Presidents have long used versions of an autopen, dating back to the era of Thomas Jefferson. They have not been outlawed or ruled unconstitutional. Trump himself has also acknowledged allowing his staff to use an autopen to sign letters on his behalf.
The Biden staffers’ interviews are part of a GOP-led investigation in the House Oversight Committee to explore the allegations, which the 82-year old former president has said are “ridiculous and false.”
“This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations,” Biden said in a statement June 4.
Comer has also subpoenaed Biden’s doctor, Kevin O’Connor. O’Connor refused to voluntarily sit for a transcribed interview, according to House Oversight Republicans.
Joseph Garrison and Bart Jansen contributed.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Four former Biden aides agree to testify in GOP investigation
