Former White House physician Kevin O’Connor has refused to cooperate with the House Oversight Committee in its investigation into former President Joe Biden’s health decline.
O’Connor pleaded the Fifth Amendment and asserted doctor-patient privilege. The physician’s legal counsel said of the matter, as per The Hill, “On the advice of his legal counsel, Dr. O’Connor refused to answer questions that invaded the well-established legal privilege that protects confidential matters between physicians and their patients. His assertion of his right under the Fifth Amendment to decline to answer questions, also on the advice of his lawyers, was made necessary by the unique circumstances of this deposition.”
“It’s clear there was a conspiracy to cover up President Biden’s cognitive decline after Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician and family business associate, refused to answer any questions and chose to hide behind the Fifth Amendment,” Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said in a statement. “The American people demand transparency, but Dr. O’Connor would rather conceal the truth. 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.”
“Congress must assess legislative solutions to prevent such a coverup from happening again,” he said. “We will continue to interview more Biden White House aides to get the answers Americans deserve.”
The committee’s ranking member, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), condemned the investigation, saying the “only person’s health that Republicans care about is Joe Biden’s – even as 17 million Americans lose access to affordable health care thanks to their big budget betrayal.”
“Oversight Republicans could be working to lower costs for American families and conducting oversight of President Trump’s corruption, but instead are obsessed with the past,” Garcia said. “Democrats will continue to look forward and build a more effective and efficient government for the American people.”