House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is calling on the Department of Justice to launch a “comprehensive” investigation into former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen while in office.
According to Fox News, on Tuesday, the committee’s GOP majority released a 100-page report outlining findings from its months-long probe into whether Biden’s inner circle concealed signs of mental decline — and whether that alleged cover-up extended to executive actions and pardons approved via autopen.
“Faced with the cognitive decline of President Joe Biden, White House aides — at the direction of the inner circle — hid the truth about the former president’s condition and fitness for office,” the report states.
The report also criticized what Republicans described as a “haphazard documentation process” surrounding Biden’s clemency decisions, arguing it leaves uncertainty over whether Biden personally authorized them.
“In the absence of sufficient contemporaneous documentation indicating that cognitively deteriorating President Biden himself made a given executive decision, such decisions do not carry the force of law and should be considered void,” the report said.
Comer is urging the DOJ to review every executive action Biden signed between January 20, 2021, and January 19, 2025, with a particular emphasis on pardons.
The report also highlights concerns about Hunter Biden’s involvement in pardon discussions.
According to testimony from former White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, Hunter Biden was present during meetings regarding controversial preemptive pardons.
“It was towards the end,” Zients said, according to a transcript included in the report. “It was the pardons towards the end, very end of the administration. And I think it was a few meetings, not many meetings.”
Comer’s report claims Zients “testified that President Biden included his son, Hunter Biden, in the decision-making process for and meetings about pardons.”
The report states this included discussions on the pardons of “five Biden family members, Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, and the members of Congress who served on the Select Subcommittee to Investigate the January 6th attack.”
A Biden spokesperson called the committee’s findings “baseless.”
Over three months, the committee interviewed 14 witnesses, including top aides who worked closely with Biden. The report criticized their testimony, saying it conflicted with public impressions of Biden’s health.
“Not one of the Committee’s 14 witnesses was willing to admit that they ever had a concern about President Biden being in cognitive decline,” the report said.
Several witnesses said they never had any discussions about the former president’s cognitive state.
The report also targeted former White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who invoked the Fifth Amendment in his deposition, answering only to provide his name. Comer is now asking the D.C. Health Board of Medicine to review O’Connor’s actions and “potentially bar him from practicing medicine.”
The report accused O’Connor of issuing “grossly misleading medical assessments” and avoiding cognitive testing for Biden.
O’Connor’s lawyers previously said he invoked the Fifth to avoid violating doctor-patient confidentiality.
The White House sharply rejected the committee’s conclusions.
“This investigation into baseless claims has confirmed what has been clear from the start: President Biden made the decisions of his presidency. There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, and no wrongdoing,” a Biden spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Congressional Republicans should stop focusing on political retribution and instead work to end the government shutdown.”
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the committee’s top Democrat, said:
“Every White House official testified President Biden fully executed his duties as President of the United States. The testimonies also make it clear the former President authorized every executive order, pardon, and use of the autopen.”
In a July interview with The New York Times, Biden insisted he “made every decision” himself while in office.
