President Biden’s first chief of staff, Ron Klain, is offering House lawmakers “tidbits” of information about Mr. Biden’s wellbeing during his time in the White House, unlike other aides to the president who have chosen to stay silent. The interview with Mr. Klain is expected to last the rest of the day.
During an interview with the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, Mr. Klain answered questions about his time as chief of staff and his role in helping Mr. Biden prepare for what would end up being a disastrous debate performance with President Trump.
The chairman of the committee, Congressman James Comer, says Mr. Klain has so far been helpful. “I think we’re having a very good transcribed interview. Mr. Klain’s being fairly responsive to our questions,” Mr. Comer told reporters as the interview took a break for lunch.
When asked if there was anything new disclosed during the interview, Mr. Comer said “there have been tidbits.”
“Obviously, evidence emerges on a daily basis that would suggest Joe Biden wasn’t mentally fit to be president,” the chairman said.
Mr. Klain smiled and did not answer questions as he left the committee room.
Mr. Comer said that he and his staff “began” asking questions about the former president’s alleged use of the drug Ambien to get to sleep around the time of his debate, though they plan to go deeper on that once they return for more questioning.
Mr. Klain’s testimony comes after weeks of Oversight Committee members trying to grill other members of the Biden inner circle, often with little to show for it.
The former president’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Mr. Biden’s deputy chief of staff, Annie Tomasini, and first lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff, Anthony Bernal, have all invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when appearing before the committee.
The former president’s son, Hunter Biden, claimed that Ambien was the cause of Mr. Biden’s poor debate performance last June during an interview with independent journalist Andrew Callaghan earlier this week.
“I know exactly what happened in that debate. He flew around the world, basically, in the mileage that he could’ve flown around the world three times,” Mr. Biden, who received a pardon from his father late last year following his criminal conviction and guilty plea in separate cases, said. “He’s 81 years old, he’s tired as s—, they give him Ambien to be able to sleep, he gets up on the stage, and he looks like he’s a deer in the headlights.”
Mr. Comer told the Sun this week that because Ambien is a Schedule IV controlled substance, he needed more answers about the drug use.
“Remember: This isn’t an investigation about whether or not it’s legal to use the autopen,” Mr. Comer told the Sun on Tuesday. “This is an investigation of whether or not Joe Biden even knew what they were doing,” Mr. Comer said. “Hunter gave an interview and said his dad was on Ambien. That’s a controlled substance. Was that the first time he took Ambien? Was he a regular user of Ambien?”
Mr. Comer told reporters on Tuesday that he needed Mr. Klain to answer the committee’s first — and arguably most important — question, which is: “Were you ever told to lie about the president’s health?”
“We’ve had three people in his inner circle plead the Fifth on that. If he can’t answer that question, my God,” the chairman said.
No other Biden aides have been subpoenaed thus far, and Mr. Comer expects the next tranche of witnesses to all come in voluntarily. Counselor Steve Ricchetti, Senior Advisor Mike Donilon, Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, and Senior Advisor Anita Dunn will all appear before August 7, if all goes according to plan.
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