A top aide to former President Joe Biden testified behind closed doors for more than four hours on Tuesday as part of the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into his mental fitness to serve and the White House’s use of an autopen, confirming she was authorized to use the automatic signature device while denying allegations of manipulation or malfeasance.
Neera Tanden, head of the White House Domestic Policy Council, revealed in her opening comments Tuesday that she was given permission to use the autopen.
Tanden stated that she “was responsible for handling the flow of documents to and from the president” and was permitted to direct the usage of autopens from October 2021 to May 2023 while acting as Biden’s staff secretary and senior adviser.
Tanden, on her way out after hours of questioning, which included a lunch break, stated she was cooperative.
“I was very happy to answer questions. I answered the questions,” Tanden responded to the Washington Examiner, adding that she was “happy to discuss my public service.”
When reporters pressed Tanden again as she was leaving the Capitol Hill building to ask if there was a cover-up of Biden’s physical condition, she responded, “Absolutely not.”
Tanden is the first of many witnesses expected to testify this week, including Anthony Bernal, a top advisor to former First Lady Jill Biden, who is due to speak with investigators on Thursday.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday morning that the committee wants to know “who was calling the shots” during Biden’s final two years in office, as well as why the president’s signature was increasingly replaced by the use of an autopen to sign certain executive orders, even on days when he was physically present at the White House.
Former President Joe Biden recently doubled down on his usage of an autopen, claiming that he had control of the White House throughout his tenure.
Alleging that senior officials concealed the former president’s cognitive impairment using autopen signings, President Donald Trump requested an investigation into Biden’s administration.
“I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false,” Biden said in a statement.
“This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations,” he added.
On Wednesday, Trump urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch an inquiry against senior Biden officials, claiming they may have plotted to mislead the public about his mental health and exercised presidential authority by using the autopen.
In a memo released on Wednesday, Trump stated that the president of the United States wields enormous authority and responsibility through his signature. Not only can the signature transform words into laws, but it can also assign people to some of the most powerful posts in government, adopt or repeal national policies, and release convicts.
“In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority,” Trump wrote.
“This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts,” Trump continued.
“Given clear indications that President Biden lacked the capacity to exercise his Presidential authority, if his advisors secretly used the mechanical signature pen to conceal this incapacity, while taking radical executive actions all in his name, that would constitute an unconstitutional wielding of the power of the Presidency, a circumstance that would have implications for the legality and validity of numerous executive actions undertaken in Biden’s name,” Trump added.