Comer May Drag Biden Before Committee on Cognitive Cover-Up
Two weeks after launching a probe into the former president, the Republican lawmaker said he may question him directly.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The GOP-led probe into the alleged “cover-up” of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline may soon ensnare the former president himself.
Kentucky Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he would be “open to” bringing the former president to testify before the committee.
On Wednesday’s edition of his eponymous show, Hannity, the host expressed doubts about whether it would be worthwhile to interview the president given his cognitive state.
“I would have to argue, probably not,” Hannity said.
“We’re going to see who was giving the directive to sign these,” Comer said, referring to Biden’s use of an autopen. Comer has alleged that Biden’s use of an autopen is evidence of his cognitive decline.
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“If everyone says it was Joe Biden, then I’m certainly open to bring him in,” he added.
Comer first announced the committee would investigate what he called a “cover-up” of the president’s mental state earlier this month after a flurry of reports alleged Biden had shown signs of cognitive and physical decline both during and before the 2024 presidential campaign.
Since beginning the probe, Comer has frequently taken issue with Biden’s use of an autopen to sign pardons and other executive documents in the final months of his term. Autopens—machines that recreate signatures on a person’s behalf—are not illegal and were used by former President Barack Obama before Biden took office.
Comer told Hannity earlier this month that Biden’s “heavy use of the autopen” was evidence the president “wasn’t capable of making decisions.”
Beyond Biden himself, Comer said he’d consider interviewing Biden’s immediate family, including wife Jill and son Hunter Biden.
The committee is currently focused on questioning members of the former president’s staff, including the three former staffers and the former director of Biden’s Domestic Policy Council. Comer told Hannity that Biden’s former chief of staff, Ron Klain, is a “very good bet” when it comes to who else the committee will tap for questioning.
Rep. James Comer has been pushing for an investigation into Biden's cognitive decline since last summer.
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Comer launched the 2025 probe shortly after Axios published an audio clip in which the president appeared to struggle to recall dates and other information while answering questions in a 2023 special counsel interview about classified documents that he’d stored at his private home.
However, Comer had expressed interest in investigating Biden’s alleged “cover-up” long before the Axios clip surfaced. In July 2024, just one week before Biden dropped out of the presidential election, Comer subpoenaed three of the president’s staffers, whom he alleged had created a “protective bubble” to conceal his cognitive state from the public.
The staffers never testified, and Comer later said the White House had “obstructed” and “defied” his subpoenas. He has since requested transcribed statements from them as part of the new probe.
After submitting the subpoenas in July, Comer wrote in a press release that “President Biden is clearly unfit for office, yet his staff are trying to hide the truth from the American people.”
Biden's Deputy White House Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini (second from left) was one of three aides subpoenaed by Comer in 2024.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The committee has also requested a transcribed statement from Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor. Comer told Hannity he believed O’Connor was “definitely not telling the truth about Joe Biden’s health.”
Because a fellow Republican, Texas Representative Ronny Jackson, previously served as White House physician under presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Comer says Jackson will advise the committee on questions to ask of O’Connor.
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