A Senate Judiciary subcommittee convened on Wednesday to investigate claims surrounding former President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities, as well as allegations that aides contributed to a cover-up of his purported mental decline. These claims have been denied by both Biden and his team.
Democratic members of the subcommittee chose to boycott the hearing, leading to a lack of new findings regarding the former president. Shortly after the proceedings commenced, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin criticized the very decision to hold the hearing, suggesting that it detracted from more pressing investigations into President Donald Trump’s current activities.
“So far this year, the Republican majority on this committee has not held a single oversight hearing, despite numerous critical challenges facing the nation that are under our jurisdiction,” Durbin stated.
The Republican members of the panel, conversely, accused Democrats and the media of deliberately concealing Biden’s alleged health issues to bolster Trump’s chances in the upcoming 2024 election. Chairman Chuck Grassley articulated the GOP’s concerns, asserting that the hearing was necessary to address issues of competency, corruption, and cover-ups within the Biden administration.
“Today’s hearing is about competency, corruption and cover up within the Biden administration. Simply put, the last administration was rudderless from one crisis to another. The Biden Administration failed and folded. The partisan media did their best to cover up those failures,” he claimed.
One notable witness at the hearing was former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who discussed his time working under Trump and contrasted it with his views on Biden’s leadership. Though Spicer lacked firsthand experience with the Biden administration, he praised Trump’s energy and mental acuity.
Spicer also critiqued the legacy media for its scrutiny of Trump’s fitness for office during his first term, suggesting that similar questions about Biden were conspicuously absent. “Many, rightly so, believe the media in this country is culpable in covering up the obvious decline of the 46th president and leaders of the free world — the president of the United States,” Spicer stated.
Republicans on the committee reinforced this narrative, asserting that Trump is indeed in command and capable of making sound decisions. Senator Eric Schmitt emphasized, “The public is counting on us to ensure this never happens again, because we won’t always be fortunate enough to have a leader like President Trump, who is so unmistakably in command.”
In May, Senate Republicans publicly announced their intent to probe Biden’s mental fitness throughout his tenure. This included scrutiny of Biden’s use of autopen, a device employed by several past presidents, including Trump, to add signatures to official documents.
The timing of the hearing coincided with a recent order from Trump directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether the Biden administration conspired to conceal Biden’s alleged mental state while in office. This marked a significant escalation, entrusting the Justice Department with a formal investigation directive.
In response, Biden reaffirmed his role in decision-making during his presidency, stating, “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency.
I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
Additionally, in May, House Oversight Chairman James Comer requested that Biden’s White House physician, Kevin O’Connor, testify regarding the investigation into Biden’s mental fitness and his use of the autopen. Comer had targeted June 25 for O’Connor’s transcribed interview.
The calls for investigation into Biden’s mental acuity have gained traction, especially following the release of a new book titled “Original Sin,” authored by CNN host Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson. The book suggests that the Biden family exhibits a “capacity for denial” and operates with a lack of transparency regarding health matters.
A spokesman for Biden countered the book’s allegations, saying, “There is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged, nor did they prove their allegation that there was a cover up or conspiracy.”
On Wednesday morning, Trump, a frequent critic of Biden, also targeted the former president’s use of autopen in his remarks. He claimed that Biden lacked control over the presidency, insisting that aides were the ones making critical decisions.
“All these people, all the scum that was around the Oval, you know, the Oval Office, or around the beautiful Resolute desk, telling this guy here, ‘Do this,’ ‘Do that,’ and not even tell him. They just go over to the autopen and sign whatever the hell they wanted to sign,” Trump said.
He continued to assert that Biden was not in alignment with policies such as open borders or transgender participation in sports, implying that decision-making was being handled entirely by others without Biden’s knowledge.
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