The Republican-led US House Oversight Committee subpoenaed three senior White House aides on Wednesday (10), requiring them to testify about Democratic President Joe Biden’s health, according to a statement from the panel.
The subpoenas were sent to first lady Jill Biden’s top aide, Anthony Bernal, deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini and senior adviser Ashley Williams. Axios first reported the information.
Biden’s re-election chances were thrown into doubt after a shaky and choppy debate performance against former Republican President Donald Trump late last month.
Since then, some congressional Democrats and major donors have publicly called for him to step aside as the party’s nominee for the Nov. 5 election. Biden has said he will remain in the race.
“Key White House officials need to appear before our committee so we can provide the transparency and accountability Americans deserve,” said Republican Rep. James Comer, the panel’s chairman.
“According to a former Biden aide, these three officials — Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal and Ashley Williams — created a ‘protective bubble around’ President Biden,” the panel added.
White House Press Secretary Ian Sams said: “Like everything Rep. Comer has done over the past year, these subpoenas are a baseless political ploy intended to garner media attention rather than legitimate oversight. His partisan attacks on the President have been discredited, and now he continues to demean the House by weaponizing subpoenas to grab headlines rather than seeking information through the proper constitutional process.”
Many lawmakers in Biden’s own party have expressed concern that he did not do enough in the days since to convince voters that the debate was an anomaly and not a true reflection of his abilities. Biden has argued that he is better positioned to defeat Trump.
The Republican-led panel asked the aides to respond by July 17 and requested that they sit for closed-door interviews later this month.
Source: CNN Brasil
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