Biden's White House physician to appear before House panel
Former President Biden's White House doctor, Kevin O'Connor, is set to appear for a deposition before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee next month, a committee spokesperson confirmed to The Hill.
O'Connor is scheduled to be deposed on July 9 as committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) expands his panel's probes into Biden's mental acuity while in office, demanding interviews with former top aides. Comer issued a subpoena for testimony from O'Connor earlier this month.
The Oversight committee is looking into Biden's cognitive functions and autopen usage during his White House tenure. Biden and his wife, Jill, have denied allegations that the former president experienced decline while in office.
New books about the end of Biden's term and his recent diagnosis with an aggressive form of prostate cancer have put a spotlight on O'Connor, who has served as Biden's physician since the Obama administration, when Biden was vice president. He was the Biden family physician after the Democrats left office, and was selected to serve again when Biden became president in 2021.
O'Connor's last physical exam of Biden, dated February 2024, described the then-president as 'fit for duty,' adding that he 'fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations.'
Comer had previously asked O'Connor to appear before the Oversight panel for a transcribed interview, saying in a late May letter that 'the Committee seeks information to ensure accurate information was provided to the American people and your health reports were not subject to any improper influence.'
O'Connor's team refused that request, his lawyers citing in part a D.C. code concerning physicians' disclosure of patient information to a court without consent, according to the June letter from Comer issuing the subpoena.
NBC News first reported on Connor's scheduled July appearance.
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