House Oversight Committee releases report on the Biden autopen presidency

https://oversight.house.gov/

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a staff report titled “The Biden Autopen Presidency: Decline, Delusion, and Deception in the White House.” 

The report exposes how President Joe Biden’s top advisers, political operatives, and personal physician concealed the President’s mental and physical decline from the American people. 

The findings reveal that as President Biden’s condition deteriorated, his aides exercised presidential authority and facilitated executive actions without his direct authorization, including misusing the autopen and failing to properly document decision-making processes. 

Following the findings of its investigation, the Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting the U.S. Department of Justice conduct a comprehensive review of all executive actions taken during the Biden presidency and scrutinize key Biden aides – Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Annie Tomasini, and Anthony Bernal – who pleaded the Fifth Amendment during the investigation. Chairman Comer also sent a letter to the District of Columbia Board of Medicine seeking its review of actions taken by Dr. O’Connor to determine any potential wrongdoing in his medical care of the former president. 

“The Biden autopen presidency will go down as one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history. As Americans saw President Biden’s decline with their own eyes, Biden’s inner circle sought to deceive the public, cover-up his decline, and took unauthorized executive actions with the autopen that are now invalid,” said Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.). 

“Our report reveals how key aides colluded to mislead the public and the extraordinary measures they took to sustain the appearance of presidential authority as Biden’s capacity to function independently diminished. Executive actions performed by Biden White House staff and signed by autopen are null and void. We are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a thorough review of these executive actions and scrutinize key Biden aides who took the Fifth to hide their participation in the cover-up. The D.C. Board of Medicine must also review the actions taken by President Biden’s physician to hide his true condition. We have provided Americans with transparency about the Biden autopen presidency, and now there must be accountability.”

The report is based on 14 depositions and transcribed interviews with key Biden aides. During the investigation, Oversight Committee Democrats did not consider the question of who was running the country for four years to be worth further inquiry. Democrat Members and staff asked only about 3 hours and 30 minutes’ worth of questions over nearly 47 hours of depositions and transcribed interviews. On average, across the 14 interviews and depositions conducted by the Committee, Democrats spent just 15 minutes questioning each witness.

Below are key findings and recommendations from the report:

• Biden’s Decline and Cover-Up: The Oversight Committee found substantial evidence that President Joe Biden experienced significant mental and physical decline during his presidency, while senior White House officials actively sought to conceal his deterioration from the public. President Biden’s inner circle, including top advisers and his physician, undertook coordinated efforts to mislead the public regarding his cognitive state, using scripted messaging, restricted access, and tightly controlled appearances. White House staff meticulously controlled President Biden’s daily activities, public appearances, and workload to mask his declining capabilities. This included restricting media access, avoiding unscripted events, and even seeking input from Hollywood figures on presentation strategy. Key advisers, including senior strategist Mike Donilon, stood to gain financially and politically from maintaining President Biden’s candidacy and suppressing evidence of his decline.

• Gaslighting the American Public over Concerns about Biden’s Debate Performance and Cognitive Decline: Even a year later, President Biden’s former senior circle denies not only that his cognitive decline was on full display in his 2024 debate with President Trump, but that the public was ever even concerned about cognitive decline. In their view, public concern about Biden’s debate performance was about his “bad cold” and more general feelings about potential limitations due to his advanced age.

• Political Interference in Medical Decisions and Failure of Medical Oversight: Testimony from senior officials, including Jeff Zients and Anita Dunn, revealed that political advisors interfered with decisions regarding President Biden’s medical evaluations, explicitly rejecting calls for cognitive testing to protect his reelection prospects. Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the President’s physician, did not perform a cognitive assessment of President Biden and invoked his Fifth Amendment right when questioned by the Committee. Testimony suggests that Dr. O’Connor’s medical judgments were influenced by political advisors and that his financial ties to the Biden family presented conflicts of interest.

• Referral of Biden’s Physician to D.C. Board of Medicine: Chairman Comer recommends that the District of Columbia Board of Medicine review the actions taken by Dr. O’Connor while serving as the White House physician to President Biden for any potential wrongdoing in the medical care of the former president—including whether Dr. O’Connor produced false or misleading medical reports to the American people.

• Exercise of Presidential Authority by Biden Aides, Making Executive Actions Signed by Autopen Invalid: Senior Biden staff exercised presidential authority or facilitated executive actions without direct authorization from President Biden himself, including through misuse of the autopen and failures in documenting decision-making processes. The Oversight Committee found alarming deficiencies in the documentation and custody of the President’s decision binder, including instances where executive actions were executed without written authorization or clear record of the President’s approval. 

The Committee identified irregularities in the issuance of pardons and commutations during the final days of the Biden presidency, including those involving members of the Biden family, where the autopen was used without confirmed presidential authorization or proper documentation. 

• Referral to DOJ for Review of Executive Actions and Key Aides Involved in the Cover-Up: Chairman Comer is calling on the Department of Justice conduct a comprehensive review of all executive actions taken during the Biden presidency and is referring key Biden aides – Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Annie Tomasini and Anthony Bernal – for further scrutiny after they took the Fifth Amendment during the investigation. 

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