House continues probe into whether White House concealed Biden's health status; subpoenas three advisers close to president

Following the presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the House of Representatives began investigating details about the president's health. The Oversight Committee, led by James Comer (R-KY), first asked to interview the Commander-in-Chief's doctor and has now subpoenaed three top White House aides. 

As reported by Axios, the subpoena includes the first lady's top aide Anthony Bernal, deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini and senior adviser Ashley Williams. All of them are described as "low-profile but very influential within the White House." 

Comer asked these officials to sit down with the committee for closed-door interviews and to respond to his request by July 17. The congressman's main concern lies in that fact that the president did not appear energetic and clear-headed enough to lead the country, so he is seeking information about which officials might have been making his decisions instead. 

"The White House has protected these three key aides from testifying about President Biden's mishandling of classified documents and now we have learned through reports that these same aides are also trying to cover up President Biden's declining cognitive status within the White House," the Oversight Committee chairman wrote on his X account. 

Comer recently asked to speak with the president's doctor, Kevin O'Connor, since the committee has doubts about his professionalism when giving medical assessments of the democratic president due to his relationship with the Biden family.

It turns out that James, brother of the current president, had asked the doctor for help in 2017 in connection with his work with Americore.

"Given your connections to the Biden family, the committee also seeks to understand whether you are in a position to provide accurate and independent assessments of the president's fitness to serve," Comer declared in the letter.

The White House response 

White House spokesman Ian Sams, who was tasked with responding to the order, said in a statement, "Like everything else Congressman Comer has done over the past year, these subpoenas are a baseless political stunt intended to garner media attention rather than engage in legitimate oversight."

"His partisan attacks on the president have been discredited, and now he continues to demean the House by using subpoenas as a weapon to get headlines instead of seeking information through the proper constitutional process," he added.