Latest news with #RonKlain
Fox News
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
New book reveals what top ex-Biden aide was thinking during disastrous debate
President Joe Biden's former chief of staff and a fixture of his re-election campaign, Ron Klain, privately announced during Biden's disastrous debate performance: "We're f---ed." "2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America," a new book released Tuesday by journalists Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of The New York Times and Isaac Arnsdor of The Washington Post, is the latest analysis of how Biden lost the White House. The authors described how, during the June 2024 debate, "Biden's aides winced as the president started answering the first question about the economy and voters who felt they were worse off under his presidency." And backstage, as Biden stumbled over an answer that questionably ended with, "We finally beat Medicare," back in the holding room, Klain stood up and announced, "We're f---ed," according to the authors. Mike Donilon, Bruce Reed and Klain were among those leading Biden's final prep ahead of the debate, according to the book. Despite Klain expressing doubt internally, Klain continued to defend the president amid calls from donors and politicians for Biden to step down. On June 30, 2024, Klain reshared an X post that urged Americans to ignore the "news reports" with "anonymous sources about Dem donors calling for Biden to withdraw." "We are the Democratic Party! These people don't get to decide to oust a pro-labor pro-people President," Klain said on July 4, 2024, in response to The New York Times reporting about the Democrats' pressure campaign against Biden. According to the book, after the debate, Klain called Jeff Zients, his successor as Biden's chief of staff, to say he was "disturbed that Biden was planning to spend the weekend at Camp David." "We have an emergency," Klain told Zients, according to the book. "We have a crisis on Capitol Hill, and the crisis is going to accelerate." But Zients insisted Biden was going to Camp David to be with his family, instead of Klain's plan to appease the progressive wing of the party with a bold second-term agenda. "I have no f---ing clue why he's going to Camp David this weekend," Klain said, according to the authors. "He needs to be working the phones, day and night." Even before the debate, when concerns about the first octogenarian president's ability to lead the country through a second term came to a boiling point, Klain had concerns, as portrayed in the book. Klain had overseen debate prep for every Democratic presidential candidate since 2004, according to the authors. Between Biden's cold, a shorter prep window than usual and staffers privately expressing concern, debate prep in Camp David did not quite go as planned, the authors claimed. "This is going to be really touch and go in Atlanta," Klain told Donilon and Reed ahead of the debate, according to the book. Fox News Digital has written extensively dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign about Biden's cognitive decline and his inner circle's alleged role in covering it up. When reached for comment, Klain told Fox News Digital, "I have nothing to add." Biden did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Biden aides pushed for early debate with Trump: Memo
Former President Biden's top aides urged him to take part in the debate against President Trump last summer that ultimately drove Biden to drop his reelection campaign last year, a newly released memo shows. 'The earlier YOU are able to debate the better, so that the American people can see YOU standing next to Trump and showing the strength of YOUR leadership, compared to Trump's weakness and chaos,' a group identified as senior advisers wrote in an April 15 memo to Biden that was published Monday via Politico Playbook. 'After further discussion, YOUR Senior Advisors, including Ron and Cedric, continue to believe it is important to move forward with a plan that supports YOUR participation in debates as early as possible.' Former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain led Biden's debate prep before he faced Trump in the disastrous July 2024 head-to-head, while former White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond was a 2020 and 2024 Biden campaign co-chair. Both have been close political confidants of Biden for years. 'YOUR Senior Advisers think strategically holding these debates in the fall, after many of the battleground states have already begun their early voting process and voter registration deadlines have passed is too late,' the advisers wrote in the memo. But rather than fortifying Biden's reelection chances, the debate jump-started questions about his fitness to serve another four years and calls for him to step aside. The White House said at the time that Biden, who was 81 years old, had a cold, but his close supporters feared that his wavering voice, halted speaking and meandering answers doomed his reelection chances. He withdrew from the race the following month and supported then-Vice President Kamala Harris to move to the top of the Democratic ticket to face Trump. Trump won the popular vote and the Electoral College to secure the White House for a second, nonconsecutive term. The memo was obtained by journalists Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of The New York Times and Isaac Arnsdorf of The Washington Post, while reporting their book, '2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,' which will be released Tuesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Wall Street Journal
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Investigating the Biden Coverup
Now that the press has decided President Biden's decline in office is news fit to print, the public deserves a better sense of what it was really like in the White House during Mr. Biden's four-year slide. If they don't overreach, Republicans can answer the question while reminding voters how irresponsible it was for Democrats to try to keep their man in power until age 86. Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is seeking testimony by several top advisers to Mr. Biden, including Ron Klain, his first White House chief of staff. 'These five former senior advisers were eyewitnesses to President Biden's condition and operations within the Biden White House,' Mr. Comer says. This is appropriate oversight. Yet it isn't helpful that President Trump last week ordered his counsel, in consultation with Attorney General Pam Bondi, to conduct what could become a criminal probe. This could be an excuse for Mr. Biden's aides to clam up. The public interest is in hearing their honest recollections of history's first President in his early 80s. Perhaps they have some lessons, since ambitious politicians are staying active for much longer. Mr. Trump's memo ordering his investigation strongly suggests that piles of Mr. Biden's executive orders and criminal pardons might be legally null and void, since they were 'signed using a mechanical signature pen, often called an autopen,' possibly without Mr. Biden's knowledge. 'The real question—who ran the autopen, OK?' Mr. Trump said. 'Because the things that were signed were signed illegally, in my opinion.' Mr. Biden responded in a statement. '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.' Many Presidents have used autopen devices for decades to save time and give correspondents the thrill of opening a letter with an ink signature. 'Neither the Constitution nor any statute prescribes the method by which executive clemency shall be exercised or evidenced,' the solicitor general opined in a 1929 memo, adding that a facsimile signature or even none is fine. In 2005 the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel advised it is permissible to use an autopen on legislation passed by Congress. 'The President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves,' it said. President Obama was visiting Europe in 2011 when he remotely 'signed' an extension of the Patriot Act, minutes before the law was set to expire. Given that background, the relevant question is Mr. Biden's mental state regarding the dotted lines that a robot might have signed. The 2005 memo emphasized it wasn't calling into doubt the general understanding 'that the President cannot delegate the decision to approve and sign a bill.' This is a relatively low bar, not a pop quiz of the policy details. When Congress passes thousand-page bills, most of the lawmakers voting yes don't bother to read them, and the President isn't going to either. Both branches rely on trusted advisers. Even a President who is ill, exhausted or badly advised can meet the basic threshold of deciding to do something, or not, as long as his aides aren't going behind his back. One risk for Republicans, and not a small one, is that looking backward at the Biden era will appear to be another round of political vengeance—the kind that backfired on Democrats when they tried it against Mr. Trump. Learning more about how the White House covered up Mr. Biden's decline matters, but raising American incomes matters more.
Associated Press
04-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
House Oversight Committee expands inquiry into Biden's mental condition and final acts in office
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Oversight Committee is requesting interviews with members of former President Joe Biden's innermost circle as Republicans ramp up their investigation into the final moves of the Biden administration. Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, a Republican, requested transcribed interviews with five Biden aides, alleging they had participated in a 'cover-up' that amounted to 'one of the greatest scandals in our nation's history.' 'These five former senior advisors were eyewitnesses to President Biden's condition and operations within the Biden White House,' Comer said in a statement. 'They must appear before the House Oversight Committee and provide truthful answers about President Biden's cognitive state and who was calling the shots.' Interviews were requested with White House senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn, former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, former deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed and Steve Ricchetti, a former counselor to the president. Comer reiterated his call for Biden's physician, Kevin O'Connor, and former senior White House aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Neera Tanden to appear before the committee. He warned subpoenas would be issued this week if they refuse to schedule voluntary interviews. 'I think that people will start coming in the next two weeks,' Comer told reporters. He added that the committee would release a report with its findings 'and we'll release the transcribed interviews, so it'll be very transparent.' Democrats have dismissed the effort as a distraction. 'Chairman Comer had his big shot in the last Congress to impeach Joe Biden and it was, of course, a spectacular flop,' said Rep. Jamie Raskin, the Maryland Democrat who served as the ranking member on the oversight committee in the previous Congress. 'And now he's just living off of a spent dream. It's over. And he should give up the whole thing.' Republicans on the committee are eager to pursue the investigation. 'The American people didn't elect a bureaucracy to run the country,' said Rep. Brandon Gill, a freshman Republican from Texas. 'I think that the American people deserve to know the truth and they want to know the truth of what happened.' The Republican inquiry so far has focused on the final executive actions of Biden's administration, which included the issuing of new federal rules and presidential pardons that they claim may be invalid. Comer cited the book 'Original Sin' by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson, which details concerns and debates inside the White House and Democratic Party over Biden's mental state and age. In the book, Tapper and Thompson wrote, 'Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.' Biden and members of his family have vigorously denied the book's claims. 'This book is political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class,' said Naomi Biden, the former president's granddaughter. Biden withdrew from the presidential race last summer after a debate against Trump in which he appeared to lose his train of thought multiple times, muttered inaudible answers and misnamed different government programs. The disastrous debate performance pushed questions about his age and mental acuity to the forefront, ultimately leading Biden to withdraw from the presidential race. He was replaced on the ticket by Kamala Harris, who lost the election to President Donald Trump.
Fox News
04-06-2025
- General
- Fox News
Comer widens Biden 'cover-up' probe, seeks interviews with Anita Dunn and Ron Klain
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is widening his investigation into the alleged "cover-up" of former President Joe Biden's mental decline by seeking interviews with five more former White House aides. Comer sent letters to five more top former Biden staffers, putting his total outreach in the investigation to 10 people so far. The latest round of letters are being sent to former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, former senior communications advisor Anita Dunn, former top advisors Michael Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, and former Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Bruce Reed. "The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating the role of former senior White House officials in possibly usurping authority from former President Joe Biden and the ramifications of a White House staff intent on hiding his rapidly worsening mental and physical faculties," Comer wrote to the five former aides. "The Committee has been investigating this issue for nearly a year. The Committee seeks to understand who made key decisions and exercised the powers of the executive branch during the previous administration, possibly without former President Biden's consent. The Committee requests your testimony to evaluate your eye-witness account of former President Biden's decline." Each letter also detailed specific reasons the committee is seeking to speak to each person. "You served as Chief of Staff for former President Biden. Before departing the White House in 2023, you had been by former President Biden's side 'for more than three decades.' You returned to the former president's side in 2024 to aid his campaign and prepare him for the June 27, 2024, debate with President Donald Trump," the letter to Klain read, citing a recent Politico article. "According to an interview, you cut short the debate prep 'due to the president's fatigue and lack of familiarity with the subject matter' and said that the former president 'didn't really understand what his argument was on inflation.' The scope of your responsibilities—both official and otherwise—and personal interactions within the Oval Office cannot go without investigation." To Dunn, Comer wrote, "Former President Biden confided in you extensively over the past decade. The Committee seeks to understand your observations of former President Biden's mental acuity and health as one of his closest advisors. "If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive's condition—or to perform his duties—Congress may need to consider a legislative response," the letter said. Comer has asked each of the five aides to appear for closed-door transcribed interviews. He told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that it was a more effective investigation tactic than a public hearing that could easily devolve into an unproductive spectacle. "You've got one hour, you're not interrupted, you don't have to go five minutes back and forth," Comer said. "So to extract information, we're going to go with the interviews." Comer previously reached out to former Biden doctor Kevin O'Connor and former White House aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Neera Tanden to appear. The committee said it expects the witnesses to voluntarily comply with the investigation and will release transcribed interview dates later this week. Comer has not ruled out the threat of subpoenas, however, if talks go awry.
