Kevin O’Connor, who served as Joe Biden’s physician while the former president was in office, refused to testify in a closed-door interview as part of the House GOP probe into Biden’s mental acuity and whether his inner circle sought to conceal his limitations from the public.
O’Connor Wednesday morning asserted doctor-patient privilege and his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, according to a statement from his attorneys. He had repeatedly argued his duties as a doctor complicated his ability to testify under oath about his patient, preventing him from sharing some sensitive information.
“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,” the statement read. “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.
The statement also cited President Donald Trump’s own invocation of his Fifth Amendment right before his deposition with New York State Attorney General Letitia James, quoting Trump’s suggestion that only “an absolute fool” would refuse to take the Fifth.
O’Connor’s decision not to participate in the committee probe sparked a rebuke from the Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who told reporters that the physician’s choice to invoke the 5th Amendment “adds more fuel to the fire that there was a cover up” of Biden’s mental fitness and vowed to continue the investigation.
Comer weeks ago subpoenaed O’Connor to appear before the committee, rejecting O’Connor’s claims that his duties as a doctor barred him from being able to discuss Biden’s private health information. In recent days, O’Connor had sought to delay the interview to continue negotiations with the committee on the terms of what he believed he could and could not divulge. The White House Tuesday night announced that it had waived executive privilege for O’Connor in an effort to compel his cooperation.
O’Connor arrived on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning as required, but left less than an hour after the interview began. Before his departure, though, O’Connor’s legal representation delivered a statement to committee members elaborating on their client’s decision. In a copy of prepared remarks obtained by POLITICO, they said that the ongoing Justice Department investigation into the same subject raised the risk of potential incrimination – even though they insisted it did not imply the doctor had broken the law.
They also emphasized that pleading the Fifth does not imply an underlying crime was committed and in fact can be a strategy taken by innocent people to avoid being coerced into making incriminating statements.
O’Connor’s strategy tracks closely with decisions by more than 30 witnesses who testified before the Democrat-led committee to investigate the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the riots at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Those witnesses all asserted their Fifth Amendment rights on a question-by-question basis. In those cases, the committee was unable to pierce the privilege but pointed to those invocations in its final report as a significant barrier.
And, like the Biden investigation, the Jan. 6 committee’s probe was also operating in parallel with a criminal investigation launched by the Justice Department, which witnesses cited when they pleaded the Fifth at that time.
However, O’Connor’s invocation is already providing fodder for Oversight Committee Republicans.
“By pleading the fifth at his deposition today, Dr. Kevin O’Connor just confirmed what we all suspected: this was a coordinated cover-up to hide the truth about Joe Biden’s condition—and who’s really been running the show behind the scenes,” said Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) posted on X.
A spokesperson for Biden’s office declined to comment.
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