The House Oversight Committee is now reportedly escalating its investigation into the use of President Biden’s autopen in issuing sweeping clemency orders, and the focus is now shifting toward the East Wing.
On Wednesday night, Chairman James Comer suggested that First Lady Jill Biden may soon be asked to testify.
Appearing on Fox News’ Hannity, Comer told host Sean Hannity that the “odds” of calling Mrs. Biden had “increased significantly” after her former chief of staff, Anthony Bernal, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during questioning.
“Well, I think the odds of calling in Jill Biden increased significantly today,” Comer said. “We had her chief of staff, her self-proclaimed work husband, there for what we plan to be an eight-hour deposition. He kept invoking the Fifth Amendment and his lawyer finally said, ‘You can ask all the questions you want. We’re gonna invoke the Fifth Amendment on every question.’”
The Oversight Committee has long raised concerns about who was making decisions inside the White House as questions mounted over President Biden’s physical and cognitive health. Comer made clear that Wednesday’s deposition only deepened those concerns.
“So we need to know, was Jill Biden the one calling the shots while Joe Biden was incapacitated?” Comer continued. “Anthony Bernal had an opportunity to answer those questions today. He chose to invoke the Fifth Amendment. So I would say her odds significantly increased.”
The autopen controversy exploded earlier this week after President Biden told The New York Times that he had authorized aides to use the autopen to sign pardons and commutations, stating it was because he was granting clemency to “so many people.”
That list included not just nonviolent offenders, but also high-profile political allies such as Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and several members of the Biden family. Nearly 1,500 commutations were also issued.
In May, Comer said his committee had requested depositions from four former Biden staffers, as well as White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, to determine what role, if any, they played in executing presidential duties while Biden’s health deteriorated. O’Connor, like Bernal, refused to answer questions and invoked the Fifth Amendment.
The issue of Biden’s fitness for office has been reignited following the release of a book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson.
The book alleges that officials in the White House expressed serious concerns about the president’s mental state, even discussing the possibility of using a wheelchair.
Those concerns only intensified when Biden’s office disclosed, just days before the book’s publication, that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had already metastasized.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a former Obama administration health adviser, speculated that Biden had likely been living with the disease since at least 2021.
As lawmakers continue to probe who was making decisions in the West Wing, the First Lady’s role appears to be coming under sharper scrutiny even as the true damage inflicted by Biden’s presidency becomes more and more apparent.
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