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FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s White House is waiving executive privilege for a key member of former President Joe Biden’s inner circle, Fox News Digital has learned.
Former White House physician Kevin O’Connor was set to testify this week in House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s probe into allegations that Biden’s senior aides covered up his mental and physical decline while president.
“In light of the unique and extraordinary nature of the matters under investigation, President Trump has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the national interest, and therefore is not justified, with respect to particular subjects within the purview of the House Oversight Committee,” a letter to O’Connor sent by the White House, obtained by Fox News Digital by a source familiar, said.
“These subjects include your assessment of former President Biden’s fitness for the office of the president and your financial relationship with the Biden family.”
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When reached for comment, an attorney for O’Connor confirmed receipt of the letter from the White House Counsel’s Office.
Comer subpoenaed O’Connor last week after the physician refused to appear voluntarily for a transcribed interview with House investigators.
O’Connor’s lawyers petitioned for a delay over the weekend, however, calling the scope of the probe “unprecedented.”
“We are unaware of any prior occasion on which a Congressional Committee has subpoenaed a physician to testify about the treatment of an individual patient,” O’Connor’s legal team wrote. “And the notion that a Congressional Committee would do so without any regard whatsoever for the confidentiality of the physician-patient relationship is alarming.”
A House Oversight Committee spokeswoman called their letter a “delay tactic to stonewall the Oversight Committee’s investigation.”
The deposition date has not been changed, and O’Connor could risk defying a congressional subpoena if he does not appear.
The Tuesday letter from the White House counsel’s office read, “The extraordinary events in this matter constitute exceptional circumstances warranting an accommodation to Congress. Evidence that aides to former President Biden concealed information regarding his fitness to exercise the powers of the President — and may have unconstitutionally exercised those powers themselves to aid in their concealment — implicates both Congress’ constitutional and legislative powers.”
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“After balancing the Legislative and Executive Branch interests, as required under the accommodation process, it is the President’s view that this presents and exceptional situation in which the congressional need for information outweighs the Executive Branch’s interest in maintaining confidentiality, especially given the Executive Branch’s own interest in determining the validity of prior executive actions,” the letter said.
Former top Biden aides and the ex-president’s current allies have insisted there was no cover-up in the Democratic White House. But Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate performance followed by his stunning exit from the presidential race raised questions about the octogenarian’s fitness for office.
Comer has summoned a number of former top Biden aides for closed-door interviews, including O’Connor, former Chief of Staff Ronald Klain, and former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Former staff secretary Neera Tanden appeared for a transcribed interview last month.
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