Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the former White House physician who treated former President Joe Biden, has agreed to appear for a transcribed interview before the House Oversight Committee on July 9, a source familiar with the committee’s schedule confirms to NBC News.
O’Connor agreed to appear after being the target of a subpoena, led by the committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who is spearheading an investigation into Biden’s alleged cognitive decline while in office. Comer is specifically focused on Biden use of an autopen for official government business.
In addition to O’Connor, the Oversight Committee has scheduled transcribed interviews with former Biden White House aides Neera Tanden, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Annie Tomasini. All of those aides scheduled interviews without being subpoenaed.
O’Connor could be a key witness in the committee’s attempt to try to prove their allegations that Biden’s diminished capacity led to key decisions being made by someone other than the president. The committee has yet to offer up any specific evidence to back up that argument.
As for the use of the autopen, the Department of Justice’s office of legal counsel issued a memo on the topic in 2005 that concluded that the practice was legal. A federal appeals court ruled as recently as 2024 that the “the absence of a writing does not equate to proof that a commutation did not occur,” when it relates to the use of a presidential autopen.
Biden himself has been insistent that he was the one making the decisions while in office and his former aides have consistently rejected any claim that anyone other than the president was in charge.
“Any accusation that President Biden was not making decisions is false. President Biden made the decisions about the pardons and the executive orders he issued, and the legislation he signed into law,” a former official, who was not authorized to speak on Biden’s behalf, told NBC News.
The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee has also signaled interest in investigating Biden’s mental acuity. The panel held its first public hearing on the topic last week, but the witness list did not include anyone with first-hand knowledge of Biden’s mental fitness or decision-making while in office.