Biden White House doctor pleads Fifth Amendment in House Oversight grilling | Fox News
By: Elizabeth Elkind (Fox News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Former Biden doctor expected to testify before House Oversight Committee
Senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports on the investigation into the cover-up of former President Joe Biden's health decline as his physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor is set to testify despite concerns over patient confidentiality.
Former White House physician Kevin O'Connor's closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee ended after less than an hour on Wednesday morning, with the doctor giving investigators virtually no new insights.
O'Connor pleaded the Fifth Amendment to multiple questions about his time with former President Joe Biden during his sit-down. It resulted in a hasty end to what could have been an hours-long deposition.
"I'm going to read the first two questions that were asked. 'Were you ever told to lie about the president's health?' He pleaded the Fifth Amendment. He would not answer that question. The second question, 'Did you ever believe President Biden was unfit to execute his duty?'" House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters after the meeting.
"Again, President Biden's White House physician pled the fifth. This is unprecedented, and I think that this adds more fuel to the fire that there was a cover-up."
Former President Joe Biden's alleged mental decline is being investigated(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The doctor's lawyers said O'Connor's refusal to answer questions on Fifth Amendment grounds was not an admission of guilt, but rather a response to what they saw as an unprecedented investigatory scope that could have violated the bounds of patient-physician privilege.
"This Committee has indicated to Dr. O'Connor and his attorneys that it does not intend to honor one of the most well-known privileges in our law - the physician patient privilege. Instead, the Committee has indicated that it will demand that Dr. O'Connor reveal, without any limitations, confidential information regarding his medical examinations, treatment, and care of President Biden," the attorney statement said.
"Revealing confidential patient information would violate the most fundamental ethical duty of a physician, could result in revocation of Dr. O'Connor's medical license, and would subject Dr. O'Connor to potential civil liability. Dr. O'Connor will not violate his oath of confidentiality to any of his patients, including President Biden."
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer is leading the probe.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The House Oversight Committee has been investigating whether Biden's former top aides covered up evidence of his mental and physical decline while in office. Biden's allies have denied such allegations.
But Comer suggested to reporters that O'Connor's invocation of the Fifth Amendment could have been evidence to the contrary.
"Most people invoke the fifth when they have criminal liability. And so that's what would appear on the surface here," he said. "We're going to continue to move forward. Obviously, I think his actions today speak loud and clear."
But O'Connor's lawyers wrote in their statement, "We want to emphasize that asserting the Fifth Amendment privilege does not imply that Dr. O'Connor has committed any crime. In fact, to the contrary, as our Supreme Court has emphasized: 'One of the Fifth Amendment's basic functions is to protect
innocent men who otherwise might be ensnared by ambiguous circumstances.'"
Meanwhile, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who made a surprise appearance at the interview and was the only lawmaker there, save for Comer, defended O'Connor's use of the Fifth Amendment.
"As someone who has served as a criminal defense attorney and actually been in courtrooms, it's kind of astounding to hear someone say, if you invoke the Fifth Amendment, that is only because you are guilty," Crockett said.
"We have a constitutional right that anyone who may be under fire can invoke. And unfortunately, with this rogue DOJ, it has decided that it wants to run a contemporaneous investigation, criminal investigation, involving the doctor - I think he did what any good lawyer would advise him to do."
O'Connor's lawyers have asked the committee to pause its investigation while the Department of Justice (DOJ) probe is underway.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
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If he had pled Doctor patient confidentiality, that would be one thing, pleading the 5th means we dodged a bullet, you have to be a complete moron at this point to think Kamala wasn't involved in a criminal conspiracy to hide Bidens incompetence and inability to perform his duties.
They should NULL all auto signed pardons and Presidential actions until we find out who authorized its use.
Donald Trump, and his family members, have pleaded the 5th amendment hundreds of times.
And you have convicted them of crimes 100's of times....So is this doctor guilty of a crime John? PS this article isn't about trump and any more off topic comments will be deleted.
If taking the 5th is such a bad thing, then why is Trump president right now?
3 minutes after posting, you come in with the obligatory deflection?
Politics is a tit for tat sport, one that you frolic in daily.
Comer's statement opened the garage door.: "Most people invoke the fifth when they have criminal liability. And so that's what would appear on the surface here," he said. "We're going to continue to move forward. Obviously, I think his actions today speak loud and clear."
Not a deflection, it is a blaring example of MAGA hypocrisy.
Yeah, it's still a deflection. Even your excuse is a deflection.
Well, I guess holding up a mirror to you does "deflect" light to a different direction. But it is just in the hope of individuals seeing the blaring hypocrisy that some of them are so eager to flaunt.
That's a deflection. Neither are the subject of the article but neither of you can resist the "but Trruuummmmppppp!" deflections.
What bullet? If Biden, his doctor, or the Cabinet had moved to get Biden out of office, you would have had President Harris. Is that what you were hoping for?
He shouldn’t be answering those questions. For at least two reasons.
First, is Doctor-Patient confidentiality. That should be obvious to anyone.
Second is they are clearly asking him questions intended to illicit an incriminating response. The investigation is not being done out of curiosity. They are looking to find someone criminally responsible for what they have already claimed was a criminal coverup. Only an idiot would answer questions derived from that context.
I think regular people don’t realize how the littlest response to questioning can lead to criminal prosecution even if you believe you did nothing wrong. But that’s why regular people foolishly talk to cops every day. They think they can control the situation, but they’re wrong.