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JOE Biden’s former doctor has refused to explain himself when quizzed about why he gave the former president a clean bill of health.
During a private Congressional session concerning President Joe Biden’s health while in office, Dr. Kevin O’Connor chose to exercise both the patient-client privilege and his Fifth Amendment rights to avoid self-incrimination.
Summoned by the Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, he was asked to clarify how President Biden received a health clearance only months prior to a cancer diagnosis.
James Comer, the Committee Chairman and a Republican from Kentucky, reported that O’Connor declined to respond to the initial questions during the hour-long discussion.
The questions were “Were you ever told to lie about the president’s health?” and “Did you ever believe President Biden was unfit to execute the duties?”
“I think that this adds more fuel to the fire that there was a cover-up,” Comer said after the meeting ended.
Comer claimed it was “now clear there was a conspiracy to cover up President Biden’s cognitive decline” and accused “family business associate” O’Connor of hiding behind his rights.
When asked for a statement after the meeting, O’Connor’s attorney said they didn’t have any comments.
However, a written draft of a statement given during the meeting showed that O’Connor’s lawyer argued that providing the committee with information would violate patient-physician confidentiality.
Since Biden stepped down, several sources close to the former president have claimed he showed glaring signs of decline while in office.
In the book Original Sin, journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson wrote that Biden once didn’t recognize A-list actor George Clooney at an event the star himself was hosting.
Sources cited in the book also accused the president of spacing out at high-profile staff meetings and forgetting the names of key aides.
But throughout the reported blunders, Biden released physicals performed by family friend O’Connor that said the now 82-year-old was in perfect health.
In early May, Biden asserted that all reports of his decline were “false” in an appearance on The View.
INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED
O’Connor was subpoenaed by Comer last month as part of their investigation into Biden’s mental acuity.
Committee members are looking into the use of an autopen, which has been used by multiple presidents to reproduce their signatures for documents.
Timeline of Biden’s failed re-election bid
President Joe Biden endured weeks of calls to step aside before he announced on July 21 that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. Here are key developments leading up to his decision.
June 27: Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump sparks calls for him to step aside. His voice was raspy and he trailed off several times after having already endured questions about his age and mental capacity following a series of blunders at public events.
July 2: Polls after the debate indicate that Trump is pulling ahead. Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett was the first Democratic congressman to publicly urge Biden to drop his bid for re-election, and big Democratic donors issued the same call a day later.
July 5: Biden does a live TV interview with George Stephanopoulos where he tries to quell fears about his age and debate performance. He called the debate “bad night” and said he was under the weather and “exhausted.”
July 10: Vermont Senator Peter Welch becomes the first senator to call for Biden to drop out.
July 11: Biden refers to Ukrainian President Zelensky as President Putin at a NATO event.
July 13: Trump is shot at a campaign rally by a wannabe assassin. His popularity and favorability rating soared after he was seen bloodied on stage but walked off with a fist in the air, telling the crowd to “fight!”
July 17: California Representative Adam Schiff and a series of other Democrats call for Biden to step aside. Even former President Barack Obama tells allies that Biden’s path to victory has “greatly diminished.” Biden tests positive for Covid-19 hours after saying he would consider ending his bid if he were diagnosed with “some medical issue.”
July 19: Biden insists he will continue campaigning in his first statement since Obama’s U-turn, despite reports that he would decide to drop out by the weekend.
July 21: Just before 2 pm, Biden announces he is stepping aside in the 2024 election and endorses Vice President Kamala Harris.
They plan to determine whether the autopen was unethically used when Biden wasn’t in his right mind, with Trump declaring Biden’s final pardons void because of autopen use.
In Wednesday’s hearing, O’Connor’s attorney David Schertler hit back that his client doesn’t need to explain himself because of physician-patient privilege.
“Revealing confidential patient information would violate the most fundamental ethical duty of a physician, could result in revocation of Dr. O’Connor’s medical license, and would subject Dr. O’Connor to potential civil liability,” a written draft of his lawyer’s statement said.
Schertler also pointed out that the Department of Justice is looking into Biden’s mental acuity and argued that the oversight committee should pause until it decides whether charges will be filed.
At the end of June, former White House Domestic Policy Council Director Neera Tanden was also called into a closed-door meeting with the committee.
She walked out of the meeting, telling reporters that she confidently answered every question and said there was “absolutely not” an effort to hide Biden’s condition, ABC News reported.
The committee has additionally subpoenaed former first lady Jill Biden’s so-called work husband and aide to see if he knows anything about the health allegations.
BIDEN HEALTH BATTLE
Not long after his interview with The View, Biden was diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer that’s already spread to his bones.
President Donald Trump said at the time that he was “surprised” the public wasn’t told about Biden’s health battle before the announcement.
“Somebody is going to have to speak to his doctor,” he told reporters.
“I think the doctor said he was just fine.”
Comer has made it clear that he wants full transparency regarding Biden’s performance and health while he was serving as president.
“The state of the president’s health is the transparency that we all expect,” he said after Wednesday’s meeting.
“The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the world. The American people have a right to know the health condition of the president, both physical and mental.
“There’s more and more evidence that comes out every day that would suggest that the president was in a pretty severe mental decline.
“So we’re going to ask about that and see what the doctor has to say.”
