House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) sent subpoenas on Wednesday to three White House aides he believes helped President Joe Biden hide the true extent of the president’s mental decline.
Comer subpoenaed Biden aides Ashley Williams, Anthony Bernal, and Anthony Tomasini to have them testify later this month about their role in handling Biden’s classified documents and counseling the president on his day-to-day affairs, according to subpoena cover letters for each aide.
Each of them accessed boxes at the Penn Biden Center, Joe Biden’s Washington, D.C. think tank, before classified materials were discovered inside them. Comer is asking them to respond to the subpoenas by July 17.
“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,” White House spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement to Axios.
Tomasini and Bernal are reportedly part of a small group of aides who make up Biden’s inner circle and have received scrutiny since Biden’s disastrous presidential debate performance.
Bernal is also a top aide to First Lady Jill Biden and has faced accusations of workplace bullying and sexual harassment. His closeness to the Biden family was reflected by his presence at Hunter Biden’s criminal gun trial last month, which saw Hunter convicted on three federal gun charges.
“The White House has shielded three key aides from testifying about President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and now we’ve learned through reporting these same aides are also seeking to cover up President Biden’s declining cognitive state inside the White House,” Comer said.
“President Biden is clearly unfit for office, yet his staff are trying to hide the truth from the American people. Key White House staff must come before our committee so we can provide the transparency and accountability that Americans deserve.”
Over the weekend, Comer wrote a letter to Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, demanding an interview about whether his medical assessments of the president have been impartial. O’Connor is a close friend of the Biden family and was involved with a failed healthcare venture that paid Joe Biden’s brother, Jim, over $600,000.
“This is absolutely ridiculous & insulting,” Sams said of Comer’s request to O’Connor.
Special counsel Robert Hur concluded earlier this year that Biden “willfully” mishandled classified documents when he was a private citizen but declined to recommend criminal charges against the sitting president.
Hur’s report on his investigation brought fresh scrutiny to Biden’s advanced age, 81, and mental fitness months before Biden’s debate performance made his mental capacity into a full-blown crisis for the Democratic party.