WASHINGTON (AP) — Home Republicans on Tuesday unveiled their long-promised report on former President Joe Biden’s use of the autopen, delivering a blistering critique of his time in workplace and inside circle that largely rehashes public info whereas making sweeping accusations in regards to the workings of his White Home.
The GOP report doesn’t embody any concrete proof that aides conspired to enact insurance policies with out Biden’s information or that the president was unaware of legal guidelines, pardons or government orders signed in his identify. However Republicans mentioned their findings forged doubt on all the Democrat’s actions in workplace. They despatched a letter to Lawyer Common Pam Bondi urging a full investigation. Republican President Donald Trump ordered an identical inquiry earlier this 12 months.
At its core, the report advances contested claims that Biden’s psychological state declined to a level that allowed White Home officers to enact insurance policies with out his information. It focuses closely on the pardons he granted in workplace, together with to his son, Hunter Biden, primarily based on depositions with shut Biden aides.
“The price of the scheme to cover the fallout of President Biden’s diminished bodily and psychological acuity was nice however will seemingly by no means be absolutely calculated,” the report reads. “The duvet-up put American nationwide safety in danger and the nation’s belief in its leaders in jeopardy.”
Biden has strenuously denied he was unaware of his administration’s actions, calling such claims “ridiculous and false.” Democrats on the Home Oversight committee denounced the probe as a distraction and a waste of time.
Republicans are shifting consideration again to Biden at a politically tumultuous time, 10 months into Trump’s presidency, with the federal government shut down and Congress at a standstill over laws to fund it. Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has saved the Home out of session for almost a month, with most public-facing committee work grinding to a halt.
Johnson touted the 100-page report at a information convention and mentioned the findings may have “main implications” for the legality of Biden’s actions as president, together with pardons.
“The president was checked out of his job for fairly a while, and all people is aware of it,” Johnson mentioned.
The report on Biden was largely compiled over a number of months earlier than the shutdown started. Primarily based on interviews with greater than a dozen members of Biden’s inside circle, the report affords few new revelations, as an alternative drawing broad conclusions from unanswered questions.
It contains repeated references to polls of Biden’s approval ranking and perceptions of his public gaffes and obvious getting old, a lot of it publicly identified.
It alleges a “cover-up of the president’s cognitive decline” orchestrated by Biden’s inside circle and takes explicit goal at Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, who invoked his Fifth Modification proper towards testifying. Republicans additionally singled out senior aides Anthony Bernal and Annie Tomasini, who equally pleaded the Fifth. All three “ought to face additional scrutiny” from the Justice Division, Republicans mentioned.
Republicans additionally despatched a letter to the D.C. Board of Drugs urging that O’Connor face “self-discipline, sanction or revocation of his medical license” and “be barred from the apply of medication within the District of Columbia.”
The report doesn’t embody full transcripts of the a number of hours of recorded testimony witnesses delivered earlier than the committee. It repeatedly scolds Biden officers and Democratic allies for defending Biden’s psychological state.
“The inner-most circle, or cocoon, of the White Home senior workers organized one of many largest scandals in American historical past — hiding a cognitively failing president and refusing any technique of affirmation of such demise,” the report says.
Whereas the report claims that record-keeping insurance policies within the Biden White Home “had been so lax that the chain of custody for a given resolution is tough or unimaginable to determine,” Republicans don’t supply any concrete cases of the chain of command being violated or a coverage being enacted with out Biden’s information.
Nonetheless, Republicans argue that Biden’s use of the autopen ought to be thought of invalid except there’s documented proof of him approving a call.
“Barring proof of government actions taken throughout the Biden presidency displaying that President Biden certainly took a selected government motion, the committee deems these actions taken by means of use of the autopen as void,” the report says.
Democrats and authorized specialists have warned that broad scrutiny of government actions may pose future authorized complications for the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, who additionally usually enact insurance policies directed by lawmakers by means of gadgets just like the presidential autopen.
