Latest news with #DrKevinOConnor
CNN
09-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
Biden's physician refuses to answer questions from Republicans in House probe of former president's mental fitness
Joe Biden's White House physician on Wednesday declined to answer questions during a closed-door deposition with the House Oversight Committee, invoking his Fifth Amendment right as the Republican-led panel pushes forward in its probe of the former president's mental fitness and decline. While Dr. Kevin O'Connor appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday, his attorneys said he 'respectfully declined to answer any questions' from the panel, which had refused to limit the scope of the interview – imperiling, they said, his 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. Dr. O'Connor will not violate his oath of confidentiality to any of his patients, including President Biden,' O'Connor's attorneys said in a statement on his behalf. The investigation is the latest front in the GOP push to expose alleged cover-ups by Biden and his inner circle that had fallen dormant in the last Congress. Republicans say the interviews are critical to supporting claims of the former president's cognitive decline in the final days of his administration. Democrats, meanwhile, have dismissed the probe in its entirety as a political stunt. The panel subpoenaed O'Connor in June after first seeking a voluntary interview, and has requested interviews with nearly a dozen former White House aides in recent months. But the interviews, which began as voluntary appearances, have grown increasingly contentious after President Donald Trump waived executive privilege for the physician and others. O'Connor's team on Wednesday argued the panel should pause its probe until the Department of Justice concludes its separate criminal investigation into his predecessor's actions and use of the autopen, which Trump had ordered in a memorandum. 'We believe that the Committee should hold its investigation in abeyance until any criminal investigation has concluded,' O'Connor's team said. A committee aide pushed back on the notion that O'Connor pleaded the Fifth Amendment because of doctor-patient privilege, arguing the physician did not answer any questions beyond his name. Invoking the Fifth Amendment is typically done to avoid answering specific questions. Though it can be perceived by the public as a way of avoiding accountability, the US Supreme Court has long regarded the right against self-incrimination as a venerable part of the Constitution and, in legal proceedings, tried to ensure that a witness' silence not be viewed as evidence of guilt. Following O'Connor's departure, House Oversight Chair James Comer accused the doctor of wanting to 'conceal the truth.' 'The American people demand transparency, but Dr. O'Connor would rather conceal the truth. Dr. O'Connor took the Fifth when asked if he was told to lie about President Biden's health and whether he was fit to be President of the United States,' the Kentucky Republican said in a statement. The committee still has multiple interviews scheduled throughout the summer. Unable to invoke executive privilege to avoid answering questions, some witnesses have already sought to stave them off. Former Biden aide Anthony Bernal withdrew from a voluntary interview last month after the White House counsel's office made clear that privilege would be waived. Comer then subpoenaed Bernal for his testimony. At least one interview has already led to a dispute over testimony. Comer claimed that Neera Tanden, Biden's director of the Domestic Policy Council, told the committee during her voluntary closed-door interview last month that she had 'no visibility' into how the approval for Biden's autopen signatures worked – a point that Republicans have latched onto. A Democratic committee official, however, swiftly pushed back on that characterization, saying that Tanden 'repeatedly and explicitly confirmed that she received President Biden's written sign-off on every executive action she presented him with.' 'Any other characterization is a distortion of the testimony,' the official told CNN at the time. Interview transcripts from Tanden's appearance have not yet been released. The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, criticized the Republican effort, saying the GOP is more concerned with the former president's health than their constituents' access to health care. 'The only person's health that Republicans care about is Joe Biden's – even as 17 million Americans lose access to affordable health care thanks to their big budget betrayal,' Garcia said in a statement. One Biden ally accused Republicans of playing politics with the congressional inquiry. 'It's an attempt to smear and embarrass. And their hope is for just one tiny inconsistency between witnesses to appear so that Trump's DOJ can prosecute his political opponents and continue his campaign of revenge,' the person told CNN.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Biden's former doctor refuses to answer questions in House Republican probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's former White House physician is refusing to answer questions as part of the House Republican investigation into Biden's health in office. Dr. Kevin O'Connor invoked doctor-client privilege and his rights under the Fifth Amendment during an appearance Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee, his attorneys said. Republicans are conducting a sweeping investigation into Biden's actions in office and questioning whether the Democrat's use of an autopen in office may have been invalid. They have also claimed that some policies carried out by the White House autopen may be invalid if it is proven that Biden was mentally incapacitated for some part of his term. Biden has strongly denied that he was not in a right state of mind at any point while in office, calling the claims 'ridiculous and false.' David Schertler, one of O'Connor's lawyers, said in a written statement he prepared for the committee that the doctor would not violate his oath of confidentiality with his patients. He also said the House Oversight committee should hold off on its investigation until Attorney General Pam Bondi concludes an investigation that the Oversight Committee's chair, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, said she has launched into the use of the autopen. 'The pending Department of Justice criminal investigation leaves Dr. O'Connor no choice but to invoke his constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to any questions posed by the Committee,' Schertler said in the statement. Comer, in a statement, said O'Connor's decision not to testify made it 'clear there was a conspiracy." 'The American people demand transparency, but Dr. O'Connor would rather conceal the truth,' Comer said. In a June subpoena of O'Connor, Comer said that claims of physician-patient privilege under the American Medical Association's code of ethics 'lack merit' because that code is not part of federal law. He said the committee's subpoena meets the AMA's own requirement that physicians must share a patient's medical information if 'legally compelled to disclose the information' or 'ordered to do so by legally constituted authority.' Comer has said his committee will release a report of all its findings after the probe is complete. He has issued subpoenas for O'Connor and Anthony Bernal, former chief of staff to former first lady Jill Biden. Last month, Neera Tanden, former director of Biden's domestic policy counsel, gave voluntary testimony. Comer has requested testimony from nearly a dozen former senior Biden aides, including former White House chiefs of staff Ron Klain and Jeff Zients; former senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn; former deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed, former counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti, former deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini and a former assistant to the president, Ashley Williams. President Donald Trump's White House has waived executive privilege, a right that protects many communications between the president and staff from Congress and the courts, for almost all of those senior staffers. That clears the way for those staffers to discuss their conversations with Biden while he was president.
Al Arabiya
09-07-2025
- Health
- Al Arabiya
Biden's Former Doctor Refuses to Answer Questions in House Republican Probe
President Joe Biden's former White House physician on Wednesday refused to answer questions as part of the House Republican investigation into Biden's mental fitness and health in office, according to his attorneys. Dr. Kevin O'Connor, who served as Biden's family physician and later as White House doctor, asserted physician–patient privilege as well as his right under the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution in declining to answer questions from members of the House Oversight Committee, his attorneys said. O'Connor's appearance Wednesday came after weeks of back-and-forth over his appearance. A lawyer for the doctor had requested a brief delay in his deposition to sort out questions over physician–patient privilege, but the committee refused and said he had to comply with the subpoena for his testimony. Republicans are conducting a sweeping investigation into Biden's actions in office and questioning whether the Democrat's use of an autopen may have been invalid. Biden has strongly denied that he was not in a right state of mind at any point while in office, calling the claims 'ridiculous' and 'false.'
CTV News
09-07-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Biden's former doctor refuses to answer questions in House Republican probe
Former U.S. president Joe Biden kneels in prayer during funeral services for Mark and Melissa Hortman at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, Minn., on Saturday, June 28, 2025. ( Tribune via AP, Pool) WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden's former White House physician on Wednesday refused to answer questions as part of the House Republican investigation into Biden's mental fitness and health in office, according to his attorneys. Dr. Kevin O'Connor, who served as Biden's family physician and later as White House doctor, 'asserted the physician-patient privilege, as well as his right under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, in declining to answer questions' from members of the House Oversight Committee, his attorneys said. O'Connor's appearance Wednesday came after weeks of back-and-forth over his appearance. A lawyer for the doctor had requested a 'brief delay' in his deposition to sort out questions over physician-patient privilege, but the committee refused and said he had to comply with the subpoena for his testimony. Republicans are conducting a sweeping investigation into Biden's actions in office and questioning whether the Democrat's use of an autopen may have been invalid. Biden has strongly denied that he was not in a right state of mind at any point while in office, calling the claims 'ridiculous and false.' By Matt Brown
Bloomberg
09-07-2025
- Health
- Bloomberg
Biden's Former Doctor Refuses to Answer Questions in House Republican Probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's former White House physician is refusing answer questions as part of the House Republican investigation into Biden's health in office. Dr. Kevin O'Connor invoked doctor-client privilege and his rights under the Fifth Amendment during an appearance Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee, his attorneys said.
