Anthony Bernal, senior aide to the former first lady, Jill Biden, has been subpoenaed by Republican members of the House Oversight Committee as part of their escalating assessment into the mental competence of previous President Joe Biden during his tenure. Authored by Representative James Comer from Kentucky, Chairman of the Republican Oversight, the subpoena demands Bernal to participate in a deposition slated for July 16th. This follows several weeks of negotiations with Bernal’s attorney in an attempt to schedule a voluntary interview, an effort that ultimately resulted in Bernal backing out of a pre-arranged meeting.
With your heavy involvement with both the former President and the former First Lady, the Committee is intrigued by your potential contribution to a scheme aimed at obfuscating former President Biden’s capability to function as the nation’s leader from the American public. To circumvent any additional setbacks, your testimony before the Committee is now obligatory, as per the wording included in the subpoena letter. Bernal marks the second ex-staffer of Biden’s to be subpoenaed, with many envisaging that others will follow.
In the pursuit of its investigation, the committee reportedly also heard voluntary testimonies this week from Neera Tanden, the previous director of Biden’s domestic policy council. It doesn’t in any way stop there, as the committee remains resolute in its mission to secure interviews from a number of other ex-members of Biden’s close-knit cohort. Even Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s doctor during his White House tenure, can’t escape Comer’s wave of subpoenas.
Indication that O’Connor is slated to testify on July 9th before the committee comes on the back of his legal representation stating he’s unable to appear for a personal interview. Their reasoning? They argue that this appearance would breach local ethical and other legal norms, which advocate against doctors revealing confidential medical information. Amid all this subpoena escalade, Trump unashamedly orderered his White House counsels and the Justice Department to put Biden’s aides under the microscope, with a particular focus on the validity of Biden’s reported usage of an autopen for official document signings.
Trump’s longstanding insinuation is that this purported employment of an autopen could serve to invalidate some of Biden’s executive decisions, a point of view that some legal specialists have rebutted. Biden’s earlier monthly comment lambasted these allegations as being ‘absurd and deceptive’, even bolding stating that the decisions taken throughout his presidency, including with regards to pardons, were made solely by him.
Trump, seemingly lending credence to the GOP investigation, has gone as far as renouncing the executive privilege for eight previous Biden administration officials, among which is Bernal, to testify to Congress. this was revealed by an anonymous White House official not authorized to publicly discuss it, according to the Associated Press. His dismantling of the executive privilege now grants these ex-staffers the liberty to expose their interactions with Biden throughout his presidential period.
The claims have been made by Comer that Bernal’s legal team had initially consented to a transcribed interview on Thursday. However, on Wednesday, they informed the committee that Bernal had chosen not to voluntarily appear on that date. Comer went on to denounce him for what he called ‘fleeing’ after the aforementioned privilege had been revoked. However, it should be noted that executive privilege for other senior advisors from Biden’s White House has also been relinquished.
These include Mike Donilon, Anita Dunn, Ron Klain, the former chief of staff, Bruce Reed, a former deputy chief of staff, former counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti, former deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini, and a previous assistant to the president, Ashley Williams. Comer’s ambition does not stop at Bernal but extends to soliciting interviews with all the above-mentioned former personnel. Yet, unsurprising, this inquiry into Biden’s mental competence has been swatted away by Democrats as nothing more than a divided political exercise that creates unnecessary disturbances from other imperative subjects.
The unceasing investigation has broadened in scale in recent weeks. New narratives are emerging that shed light on Biden’s last year in office. These reports seem to underscore concerns about his age and the circumstances surrounding his decision not to seek another term. Regardless of the stories, Biden has repeatedly refuted the claims that his cognitive faculties had deteriorated during his presidency.
The implications of this probe could be extensive for both politics and policies alike. Some GOP lawmakers contend that if it were concluded that Biden were incapacitated or mentally unfit during his term, his executive actions or policies enacted via the autopen procedure could potentially be deemed illegitimate.
These unproven claims by Trump and his allies, including the inference that Biden was not aware of the activities performed by his administration on an array of subjects, ranging from pardons to environmental policies and labor rights. The move to reverse such executive actions would surely undergo rigorous legal vetting and result in a lengthy court battle. The potential overturning of these policies could impact numerous executive orders issued during Biden’s term.
Despite the concerted efforts of Trump and his GOP allies to cast uncertainty over the legitimacy of Biden’s actions, many legal experts continue to argue against the invalidity of autopen signed documents. This unfounded pursuit appears to be a sign of desperation, an attempt to invalidate Biden’s legacy and with it, the real policy impacts that Biden exerted in areas as diverse as labor rights and environmental conservation.