Neera Tanden’s testimony just opened a can of worms. The former Biden aide faced the House Oversight Committee behind closed doors, grilled about the White House’s autopen use and Joe Biden’s mental sharpness. Republicans smell a scandal, and they’re digging deep.
Tanden, once Biden’s staff secretary, admitted she directed the autopen’s use from October 2021 to May 2023, as the Washington Examiner reports. The committee, led by Rep. James Comer (R-KY) is probing why Biden’s signature was machine-stamped on executive orders even when he was at the White House. This isn’t about legality -- it’s about who was really running the show.
At 9:46 a.m. Tuesday, Tanden strolled into the Capitol Hill office, dodging reporters’ questions like a seasoned bureaucrat. She claimed, “We had a system for authorizing the autopen that I inherited.” Sounds like a convenient dodge for a process that raises eyebrows.
The Oversight Project flagged eight instances where Biden’s autopen signed orders while he was physically present. Tanden’s defense? A 2005 legal opinion states that the president doesn’t need to sign bills personally -- subordinates can handle the task.
Republicans aren’t buying the excuse. They’re not challenging the law but questioning if Biden was mentally fit to authorize each use. Comer’s team wants to know if Tanden was covering for a president who wasn’t fully in charge.
Tanden insisted, “I had no experience in the White House that would provide any reason to question [Biden’s] command.” Her confidence is bold, but it doesn’t erase the committee’s skepticism. If Biden was so capable, why the autopen at all?
By 12:45 p.m., Comer noted two hours of questioning had been done, with Democrats passing on their first hour. Reps. Eli Crane (R-AZ) Wesley Bell (D-MO) and Robert Garcia (D-CA) joined the fray. Bell snarked, “This is for one person, their king, to stroke his ego,” dismissing the probe as a Trump-driven circus.
Bell’s jab misses the mark. Comer prefers these closed-door depositions, saying, “So much more substantive.” He’s not wrong -- public hearings often devolve into grandstanding, while these sessions unearth details.
Comer added, “This is the first of many interviews” to uncover who called the shots in Biden’s final years. The committee’s not stopping with Tanden. Anthony Bernal, a senior adviser to Jill Biden, faces investigators Thursday.
Former aides Annie Tomasini, Ashley Williams, and Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, are also on the committee’s radar. O’Connor’s set for July 9, and transcripts will drop once all interviews wrap. Transparency’s coming, but patience is required.
Biden himself recently claimed, “I was the one who made the decisions.” That’s a nice soundbite, but it doesn’t explain why his signature was automated. The public deserves clarity, not deflections.
Tanden stopped overseeing the autopen in May 2023 when she became head of the Domestic Policy Council. Her exit from that role didn’t end the questions. If anything, it intensified the committee’s focus on her earlier actions.
President Donald Trump isn’t sitting idly by. He has ordered the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House counsel David Warrington, to probe the matter. Trump’s move signals this isn’t just a congressional sideshow -- it’s a priority.
Democrats like Bell call it a “weak case,” mocking the probe as a waste of time. He griped about learning White House office layouts instead of hard evidence. Maybe Bell missed the point: details build the bigger picture.
The autopen saga isn’t about pens -- it’s about trust. If Biden were fully in control, why the need for a machine to sign his name? Comer’s investigation might just reveal whether the White House was hiding a deeper dysfunction.
