Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the former personal physician to President Joe Biden, invoked the Fifth Amendment (right to not self-incriminate) on Wednesday during a closed-door deposition before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. O’Connor refused to answer questions as part of an ongoing congressional investigation into Biden’s cognitive health while in office.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., called Dr. O’Connor’s refusal to testify “further proof” of a broader cover-up to hide the former president’s alleged mental decline.
Former Rep. Mary Peltola is on record saying that Biden was one of the sharpest people she had met in DC.
“Dr. O’Connor took the Fifth when asked if he was told to lie about President Biden’s health and whether he was fit to be President of the United States,” Comer said. “It’s clear there was a conspiracy to cover up President Biden’s cognitive decline.”
The inquiry has gained new momentum following Biden’s recent disclosure that he had been battling an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones, a fact kept from the public until May, when it was disclosed the cancer had become serious.
On the same day as O’Connor’s deposition, government watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust filed a formal complaint with the D.C. Board of Medicine, calling for an investigation into the physician’s handling of Biden’s diagnosis and questioning whether O’Connor violated medical ethics.
“Physicians and other healthcare professionals must comply with strict standards of behavior,” PPT said in its filing, citing medical board rules that prohibit willfully filing false records, misrepresenting treatment, or demonstrating a careless disregard for a patient’s welfare, even if no harm occurs.
The watchdog’s complaint points to a series of public statements from the White House over the course of Biden’s presidency, which portrayed the president as healthy and mentally fit. That narrative persisted even as questions abounded among medical professionals and the American public regarding his visible signs of frailty, his trips and falls, and his constant verbal bumblings.
The matter is of greater importance in the context of the hundreds of autopen orders, pardons, and proclamations made by Biden during the time period in question.
Adding weight to the debate is testimony from former White House physician and Professor of Medicine Lawrence C. Mohr, who has emphasized that the role of a White House doctor involves unique ethical challenges. “They have a responsibility to the president as an individual patient and a responsibility to the nation,” Mohr has said. “The nature of these dual responsibilities confront White House physicians with a variety of unique issues, including presidential disability, implementation of the 25th Amendment, and a president’s right to privacy versus the public’s right to know.”
While the White House traditionally summarizes the president’s annual physical exam, there is currently no legal requirement for full disclosure of medical records.
Republicans have renewed calls for legislation requiring greater transparency, citing the lack of legal safeguards as a loophole ripe for abuse.
“Congress must assess legislative solutions to prevent such a coverup from happening again,” Comer said. “We will continue to interview more Biden White House aides to get the answers Americans deserve.”
With both a congressional investigation and a formal ethics complaint now in motion, pressure is growing on former administration officials to address lingering questions about what the public wasn’t told about Biden’s health.
Ahh, yes. The Biden/Penn administration. Methinks Otto was far more active behind the scenes than Joe.
The committee of Progressives that made all the decisions for Joe & Otto was so bent on taking this nation down a few more steps, they simply did everything possible to subvert the Constitution, the Nation, and moral values. I’m so glad it’s over and I pray that the changes currently underway (except for the increase to the deficit and debt) continue with the next administration.
Shalom shalom!!
After four years of “Insurrection!” and “Russia, Russia, Russia” and even before that with questions about Trump’s mental acuity and the 25th amendment blather, the entire country could see that Biden was impaired and cognitively degraded. The media covered it up. The (D)ems covered it up. His White House staff covered it up. His own family covered it up. They all lied. They all knew. They all covered it up. Now it’s time for indictments, trials and prison. And not some country club (D)emocrat prison, but a real live pound-me-in-the-*zz federal penitentiary.
You cares! Let’s talk about what Matters Now which is the current President ! Trump has been in mental decline for years… we’ve all seen it for ourselves in recent interviews. He is Not well.
“Not well” …… But twice as sharp as any Democrat.
They should get this Quack on the record about the time Joe Biden loaded his drawers while meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Our former ‘little girl sniffer-in-Chief’ had such a priceless expression as his handlers rushed him out of there for diaper changing.
So what? Who cares? There’s as much to gain from this inquiry as there is releasing the Epstein files. Biden isn’t president anymore and his team is out. There are more important things to focus on.
Your response sounds as if you have skeletons in your closet that you would rather not have revealed.
Pursuit of the truth is always a noble endeavor.
Overlooking the truth and lying in a bed of comfortable lies is what cowards do. That is why the USA is in such a mess that it is now. It is time for accountability, or else we will have many more Bidens and Epsteins ahead. We must identify the cancer in order to remove it. We must seek to reveal that which ails us all.
Biden isn’t President anymore, so what?
There was, apparently, widespread deception happening during his administration. If Biden was in fact, incompetent who was actually running the White House and the Executive Branch?
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I am old enough to remember when the left was complaining that they did not elect Elon Musk, but us on the right did not elect… someone…whomever was running the show. Whether we liked it or not, Biden was elected and sworn in as President. But… apparently… some level of collusion, possibly conspiracy happened.
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Do we just turn a blind eye? “It’s over, forget about it…” There is too much of that happening already, and it is about time those that conspire against the best interests of the United States get to feel the heat in the witness chair.
Humiliating corrupt Democrats is reason enough, however there is also a policy justification.
Biden’s autopen signed a very large number of executive orders and granted hundreds of pardons during his final days in office. There is significant evidence that Joe Biden had no idea that these orders were being signed – as he expressed confusion on camera during interviews when questioned about the content of these executive orders, to the point of denying even signing them. “I never signed that!”
Establishing that Biden was not cogent enough to sign executive orders will be key to nullifying the pardons granted to his family and corrupt individuals like Gen. Milley, Liz Cheney, and Dr. Fauci. Anyone on the right who want to see them locked up should be quite interested in exposing Biden’s obvious mental incapacity while in office. Dr. Fauci behind bars would send a very strong warning to future bureaucrats that may be tempted to use vaccines as a weapon.
Actually it matters a great deal.
We need to determine whether Joe Biden was competent all 4 years of his presidency. It has great impact on all those executive orders and pardons that were “auto-penned” or even the ones signed by him (the few that are).
Did he understand what he was signing or authorizing? Did they even ask him?
If he is/was not competent and others authorized the use of the auto-pen for various documents, then we have a legality issue regarding the executive orders or pardons at the least and an abuse of power issue at worst. One of the witnesses in the hearing regarding the use of the auto-pen admitted that she was not always sure, who had authorized the use.
Wouldn’t it be fun to find out who was running the country during biden’s dotage, reverse everything that person, or those persons, did and throw the book at them for doing it?
Joe Biden referring to Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige as ‘the great negro at the time’ Might have been a clue, or his million miles on Amtrak or corn pop, or “you know the thing” or “America is a country that can be summed up in one word..I was in the foothills of the Himalayas” or the falling down or getting lost at the White House or “my butts been wiped” or “we finally beat Medicare”
Just a few clues, we don’t need the doctor to tell us what we saw.
Pleading the 5th is not, nor should it ever be, considered any kind of admission of guilt, or coverup.
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Everyone has a fundamental human right to refuse to answer a question, especially when under oath.
While in principle I agree with what you are saying it is imperative to know what the 5th Amendment says, it says “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Specifically the section employed here says “nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself” known as the right to refuse self-incrimination, or right to remain silent.
While the good doctor certainly can chose to plead the 5th, and as you said that does not admit guilt or admit a coverup, it certainly doesn’t dismiss the potential for guilt or coverup. And it most certainly doesn’t hide the obvious truth that we all saw with our own eyes all while lefists were conspiring together and telling us that we couldn’t believe our lying eyes.
I agree with you.
And frankly, if all was well in the Biden admin, and he was really sharp as a track, why avoid saying so in front of Congress? “I have the right to refuse to answer.” seems a bit suspicious.
This as of with other previous scandals will probably die on the vine as the media who was enterically involved in this cover-up will not report on it. It is imperative that the Comer and his fellow Republicans continue to pursue this s we the voter can have confidence that who we elect as President is fully capable of conducting the business of the Federal government and not just a puppet for the Deep State.
Ahh, yes. The Biden/Penn administration. Methinks Otto was far more active behind the scenes than Joe.
The committee of Progressives that made all the decisions for Joe & Otto was so bent on taking this nation down a few more steps, they simply did everything possible to subvert the Constitution, the Nation, and moral values. I’m so glad it’s over and I pray that the changes currently underway (except for the increase to the deficit and debt) continue with the next administration.
Shalom shalom!!
Biden isn’t the president. How is this relevant anymore other than for political reasons. Should a doctor be forced to breach doctor/client confidentiality? I’m sure nobody on here cares.
Because Biden is no longer President, should wrongdoing go unpunished?
Are we back at the “there is no evidence, so do not bother investigating” phase?
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I think I said this on a previous article. If a wife suspects their husband is having an affair because she sees some behavior changes that seem weird, and she talks to a friend, does the friend say:
1. There is no evidence, forget about it?
-OR-
2. look at his phone, or check to see if his car is at work when he is “working late” or talk to a mutual friend?
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Somehow, I doubt you would say #1 is the correct path.
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So… there is enough weird stuff that happened throughout Biden’s term as President that make everyone on the planet think he was mentally incompetent. Do we just ignore the fact that those closest, who no one believes did not see the mental decline, covered it up? Leading us to ask who was really making the decisions. Or do we ask the questions?
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Tell me why we should not ask the questions.
Of course.
There is nothing relevant about signing presidential pardons for over 8000 convicted and incarcerated criminals to be released on the street to go after those horrible citizens who testified against them in a court of law which placed them behind bars for serious crimes.
Of course your tired babbling puppet had plenty of time between naps on his soiled Delaware beach chair to research all of these convictions and decide it was in the publics best interest to release them all after taxpayer spent millions to prosecute them.
Is that why all the Democrats are screaming about preserving “Democracy”?
My guess it was a last ditch effort to gather cash from the criminals families as the cash flow from foreign adversaries to his drug addled prostitute son he pimped out dwindled fast as soon as people started realizing the FBI and 50 top security officials were lying about Hunter’s laptop.
Now that the world knows the Biden’s presidency was built on a pyramid of lies the slimy Doctor has no choice but to clam up and plead ignorance. At some time the pileup of lies start tumbling.
So you are correct in implying the sheeple dont care as over 80 million selected the old fool in the first place….and I have a bridge to sell too.
“Should a doctor be forced to breach doctor/client confidentiality?”
Cman the legal standards here are murky. Since the White House physician is being paid by the taxpayer, the public can expect a certain degree of disclosure. But the confidentiality issues is not germane to the question asked.
The question asked by the committee was basically, if the good doctor was asked to alter his statements to the public of Joe Biden’s mental state/health status by anyone”
This has nothing to do with confidentiality. The question was not about the president per se, but whether a third party demanded that he change his assessment and diagnosis and the report for public consumption. It should further be mentioned that the good doctor routinely made claims that Joe was healthy and fit. For example in Feb 2024 Politico reported that the White House doctor stated that “Joe Biden’s physical finds him healthy, active and robust” yet a clearly obvious mental decline from the glowing February report to the June debate, seemed to indicate otherwise.
The 5th amendment is a shield against self-incrimination and has no bearing on patient confidentiality. So the good doctor still should have answered that question. The fact is the confidentiality rule does not cover a third party.
After re-reading my post, I need to point out that confidentiality does not apply even if the president himself asked Dr. O’Connor to alter the report. The question was not about any medical diagnosis, treatment or disease progression. It was a simple “were you asked to change facts in your report”, which requires a simple yes or no answer.
(If he was so concerned about confidentiality he should not have issued reports at all, but since he did, it eliminates the confidentiality consideration, as one can logically assume that he had permission to publish the statements about Joe Biden’s health.)
Patient confidentiality is not like an NDA. It only covers certain medically pertinent information. We need to know, if his report was accurate and truthful or manipulated to present and support a certain public image of Joe Biden and his mental/physical faculties, in order to mislead the public into believing Joe was capable not only of doing the job, but doing it another 4 years..