BIDEN AUTOPEN USE: WHAT TO KNOW AS TRUMP ORDERS AN INVESTIGATION INTO HIS PREDECESSOR

The former White House aide is the second of the two witnesses who appeared this week, following Biden’s former physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who invoked the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday before the committee’s majority and minority counsel, citing concerns about patient confidentiality after he requested the interview be delayed.

Williams, a longtime aide to the Bidens, works at the office of the former president. She also worked on his 2020 campaign and was part of his transition team in 2021 following his victory. Before that, she served as an intern and assistant to then-second lady Jill Biden during the Obama administration.

The committee has continued to expand the investigation over the course of the last few months following the release of CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has continuously leaned into the former president’s use of an autopen for pardons and executive orders. Tapper’s book specifically notes Williams.

“People working on the events noted that aides like Annie Tomasini and Ashley Williams were directing his every step to a degree they hadn’t before,” Tapper wrote.

Tomasini, a former deputy chief of staff, will also appear before the counsel on July 18.

Neera Tanden, who served as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, appeared before the committee last month. Anthony Bernal, a senior adviser to Jill Biden, was slated to appear the same week but refused after President Donald Trump waived executive privilege for all of the former aides in the investigation.

Executive privilege allows the witness to withhold information from Congress to protect the integrity of the executive branch. Bernal is now expected to appear on Wednesday for a deposition after being subpoenaed.

The transcripts from the closed-door interviews are expected to be made public. Comer told the Washington Examiner last month that no interviews would be released before all of them had concluded, but footage of O’Connor’s interview was released Wednesday evening after he pleaded the Fifth. Transcribed interviews are typically conducted by the majority and minority committee staff over several hours. The scheduled interviews are set to take place through Aug. 7.