A third witness in a little over a week has invoked the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a U.S. House investigation into former President Joe Biden’s mental and physical health during his time in the White House.
U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said Friday that Annie Tomasini, who served as an assistant to the former president and deputy director of Oval Office Operations, pleaded the fifth during a deposition into Biden’s “cognitive decline.”
A statement from Comer’s office characterizes Tomasini’s and fellow witnesses who also have pleaded the Fifth as “a pattern of key Biden confidants seeking to shield themselves from criminal liability.”
Comer says Tomasini was asked about her role in a “cover-up” of Biden’s mental decline, as well as the handling of classified materials.
“During her deposition today, Ms. Tomasini pleaded the Fifth when asked if Joe Biden, a member of his family, or anyone at the White House instructed her to lie regarding his health at any time,” according to Comer’s statement. “She also pleaded the Fifth when asked if she ever advised President Biden on the handling of classified documents found in his garage, if President Biden or anyone in the White House instructed her to conceal or destroy classified material found at President Biden’s home or office, and if she ever conspired with anyone in the White House to hide information regarding the Biden family’s ‘business’ dealings.”
Comer accuses Tomasini and other Biden aids of creating a “protective bubble” around the former president.
On Wednesday, former First Lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff, Anthony Bernal, also invoked the Fifth Amendment during a congressional deposition. During a closed-door congressional deposition on July 9, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician, also pleaded the Fifth.
Comer continues to argue that the witnesses invoking their Fifth Amendment rights point to evidence that Biden White House officials were trying to cover up the former president’s mental decline.
Questions about Biden’s mental fitness were raised before the 2020 presidential election. Republicans and many in the conservative media continued to raise questions regarding the former president’s health throughout his presidency.
However, the White House claimed Biden received regular medical exams, showing a healthy, competent president.
The House committee announced in early June that it was expanding its investigation into the “cover-up” of Biden’s “mental decline.”
Comer sent letters to five former senior Biden White House aides, “demanding they appear for transcribed interviews.” The congressman was investigating “potentially unauthorized issuance of sweeping pardons and other executive action.”
The investigation furthers the debate on whether sweeping Biden pardons and actions could be voided.
The investigations have been fueled in part by a book written by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, “Original Sin,” which the congressman quoted as claiming, “Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.”
In addition, President Donald Trump has been raising questions about whether an autopen was used to carry out executive actions, including executive orders, clemency grants, pardons, and presidential memoranda, and who directed the president’s signatures to be affixed to the documents.
Trump underscored the importance of a presidential signature, saying “the nation is governed through presidential signatures.”
An autopen is a device – its patent is centuries old – that places an individual’s signature on documents or other surfaces. Trump argues that the device is used to sign thousands of letters in response to Americans writing to the president, but it is not intended to be used for official documents.
