Ex-White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed is currently meeting with congressional investigators to look into whether top Biden administration aides concealed signs of mental decline in the former president.
Reed arrived just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, declining to comment to reporters as he entered the closed-door interview with staff from the House Oversight Committee.
The longtime Biden ally is the ninth former White House official to participate in the probe, with six appearing voluntarily and three others, including ex-White House doctor Kevin O’Connor and former advisors Anthony Bernal and Annie Tomasini, being subpoenaed by Congress.
Former deputy chief of staff for policy Bruce Reed is the ninth ex-Biden administration aide to appear before the House Oversight Committee. (Getty Images)
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is leading the investigation into whether Joe Biden’s inner circle covered up signs of mental decline, particularly regarding the use of autopen signatures for executive decisions without Biden’s full awareness. The focus is on the numerous clemency orders signed near the end of Biden’s presidency.
However, Biden and his allies have refuted any allegations of wrongdoing. Biden himself told The New York Times last month that he was involved in every decision regarding pardons and commutations.
Reed, like many others who have testified, has had a longstanding relationship with Biden, dating back over a decade.
During the Obama administration, he served as chief of staff to the vice president from January 2011 to December 2013. Reed’s time in that position overlapped with Ron Klain and Steve Ricchetti, both of whom have already spoken to House investigators voluntarily.
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer is leading the probe. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
It is unlikely that Reed’s testimony will provide a smoking gun for investigators.
Those Biden allies who have testified voluntarily have maintained that they believed the former president was fully capable of serving as commander-in-chief. Some, like Klain, have acknowledged a decline in his memory over time.
Others, such as Ricchetti and former senior advisor Mike Donilon, have indicated they believed Biden remained as sharp as ever and would have been so for another four years, according to sources.
Those who appeared under subpoena have all invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering substantive questions.
After Reed, five other ex-Biden administration aides are still set to appear in the coming weeks. (Fox News)
Reed was reportedly part of Biden’s “Politburo,” making decisions at the White House towards the end of his term, according to Axios reporter Alex Thompson and CNN host Jake Tapper.
No lawmakers are expected to be present during Reed’s interview; typically, these sessions are led by staff lawyers from both Democratic and Republican sides of the committee.
The interview could last for several hours, as the previous five transcribed interviews all took at least four hours, with Ricchetti’s lasting around eight hours.
