Biden's White House doctor declines to answer questions before House panel

Washington — Former President Joe Biden's White House physician appeared before the House Oversight Committee for closed-door testimony on Wednesday and declined to answer questions as the GOP-led panel ramped up its investigation into Biden's age and health.

The committee has sought Dr. Kevin O'Connor's testimony as new reporting emerged earlier this year about the circumstances surrounding Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race and his mental acuity while in office. Meanwhile, President Trump ordered an investigation last month into "whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden's mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President."

O'Connor's attorneys, David Schertler and Mark MacDougall, said he declined to answer lawmakers' questions based on doctor-patient privilege and his rights under the Fifth Amendment.

In a statement to the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, the attorneys said that the "totality of the circumstances surrounding this Committee's investigation leave Dr. O'Connor no choice but to decline to answer questions," while emphasizing that asserting Fifth Amendment privilege "does not imply that Dr. O'Connor has committed any crime."

In a separate statement, the attorneys cited Mr. Trump's decision to plead the Fifth during a 2022 deposition before the New York attorney general.

The appearance before the panel Wednesday came after Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, sent a letter to O'Connor last month compelling his testimony. Comer outlined that the committee was seeking details about "your assessment of and relationship with former President Biden." The letter cited a memo written by O'Conner last year after Biden's physical, in which he described the then-president as a "healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency."

Comer railed against O'Connor's decision to plead the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday, calling it "unprecedented."

"I think that this adds more fuel to the fire that there was a cover-up," Comer told reporters. "This is something I think every American is concerned about. I think every American wants to know the truth."

The Kentucky Republican pledged to move forward with the investigation, saying several other witnesses will be testifying before the committee.

"Most people invoke the Fifth when they have criminal liabilities, and that's what it would appear on the surface here," Comer claimed. "We're going to continue to move forward."

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat on the Oversight Committee, defended O'Connor's decision to reporters, saying, "With this rogue DOJ that has decided that it wants to run a contemporaneous investigation, criminal investigation involving the doctor, I think that he did what any good lawyer would advise him to do."

"I don't understand why we keep looking backwards," Crockett added. "The reality is that the country wasn't off the rails when Joe Biden was sitting in the White House. The country is off the rails right now."

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