{"id":2462397,"date":"2025-07-16T11:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/anthony-bernal-invokes-fifth-amendment-in-biden-autopen-investigation\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T11:01:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T15:01:53","slug":"anthony-bernal-invokes-fifth-amendment-in-biden-autopen-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/anthony-bernal-invokes-fifth-amendment-in-biden-autopen-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Bernal invokes Fifth Amendment in Biden autopen investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fanthony-bernal-invokes-fifth-amendment-in-biden-autopen-investigation%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2462397&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former Biden aide Anthony Bernal invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >closed-door deposition<\/a> on July 16,2025,before the house Oversight Committee,which is investigating the use of an autopen by former President Joe Biden. Bernal arrived at the hearing but declined to answer any questions and left shortly after. He is not the first witness to do so; Biden&#8217;s former physician, Dr. Kevin O&#8217;Connor, also invoked the Fifth Amendment recently. Bernal had previously canceled a planned appearance after President Donald Trump waived <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnn-complains-about-fox-news-chyrons-regarding-biden-ignoring-networks-own-chyrons-during-trump\/\" title=\"CNN Complains About Fox News Chyrons Regarding Biden, Ignoring Network\u2019s Own Chyrons During Trump\">executive privilege<\/a> for all witnesses in the examination. Bernal served as a senior adviser to former First Lady Jill Biden and was an assistant to President Biden. The committee plans to release transcripts of the interviews once all testimonies are complete, with additional interviews scheduled in the coming months.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Former Biden aide Anthony Bernal invokes Fifth Amendment before House Oversight Committee in autopen investigation<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2175052\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Former&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/BIDEN\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Biden<\/a>&nbsp;aide Anthony Bernal invoked his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/FIFTH-AMENDMENT\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fifth Amendment<\/a>&nbsp;right against self-incrimination during a deposition on Wednesday before the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/house-oversight-committee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">House Oversight Committee&rsquo;s<\/a>&nbsp;majority and minority counsel.<\/p>\n<p>Bernal entered the Rayburn House Office Building hearing room at 9:52 a.m. and did not answer any questions as part of the Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/autopen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"autopen\">autopen<\/a> investigation. He then exited shortly after at 10:25 a.m. <\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3472219\/adelita-grijalva-arizona-special-election-raul-grijalva-house\/\">Adelita Grijalva wins Arizona special election primary to succeed her father, Raul Grijalva<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/3471422\/mike-rogers-raises-million-bid-michigan-senate-seat\/\">GOP&#8217;s Mike Rogers lags behind challengers in bid to flip Michigan Senate seat<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/3470775\/kyrsten-sinema-spending-thousands-travel-defunct-campaign-fund\/\">Sinema continues to spend tens of thousands on travel from defunct campaign fund<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>He is not the first witness to invoke the Fifth Amendment in this investigation. Biden&rsquo;s former physician, Dr. Kevin O&rsquo;Connor, decided to invoke it last week after the committee denied his request to delay his testimony.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3424366\/who-is-anthony-bernal-jill-biden-influence-white-house-cognitive-decline\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"WHO IS ANTHONY BERNAL, JILL BIDEN&rsquo;S FORMER TOP AIDE WHO WIELDED &lsquo;ENORMOUS&rsquo; POWER IN WHITE HOUSE?\">WHO IS ANTHONY BERNAL, JILL BIDEN&rsquo;S FORMER TOP AIDE WHO WIELDED &lsquo;ENORMOUS&rsquo; POWER IN WHITE HOUSE?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Former Biden aide Anthony Bernal entered the House Oversight hearing room at 9:52 a.m. for his closed-door deposition, he could invoke his Fifth Amendment right as Dr. Kevin O&rsquo;Connor last week. <\/p>\n<p>Bernal did not answer any questions from the press. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/U7BqGJty6H\">pic.twitter.com\/U7BqGJty6H<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Lauren Green (@lauren_greennn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lauren_greennn\/status\/1945482830831587376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Bernal canceled his plans to appear before the committee last month for the second <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jen-psaki-gets-official-warning-from-house-foreign-affairs-committee-charmain-comply-or-face-compulsory-process\/\" title=\"Jen Psaki Receives Formal Warning from ... Foreign Affairs ... Chair: Comply or Risk Enforcement\">transcribed interview relating<\/a> to former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Joe Biden<\/a>&lsquo;s use of the autopen. The former Biden aide was an assistant to the president and senior adviser to former first lady <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jill-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Jill Biden<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3466195\/trump-waives-executive-privilege-biden-physician-kevin-oconnor-house-probe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">waived executive privilege<\/a> for all witnesses, leading Bernal to cancel last month. Executive privilege allows a witness to withhold information from Congress to protect the integrity of the executive branch. As the investigation progresses, the rest of the witnesses will also be denied the same protections.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-backs-republican-covid-19-package-after-mcconnell-rejects-bipartisan-proposal\/\" title=\"Trump backs Republican COVID-19 package after McConnell rejects bipartisan proposal\">told reporters<\/a> when O&rsquo;Connor invoked the Fifth Amendment that it should not be seen as a sign of guilt but rather reality, as the House, Senate, and the Department of Justice have all opened investigations into Biden&rsquo;s health.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Former Biden aide Anthony Bernal arrives at a House Oversight Committee deposition on July 16, 2025. (Graeme Jennings\/Washington Examiner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;He did what any good lawyer would advise him to do, and it seems like he had two good lawyers in the room today,&rdquo; Crockett told reporters.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3471894\/jamie-raskin-jim-jordan-judiciary-hearing-epstein-files\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong>JAMIE RASKIN ASKS JIM JORDAN TO HOLD JUDICIARY HEARING ON EPSTEIN FILES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The transcripts are slated to be made public, according to a spokesperson for the committee. Comer told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> last month that no interviews will be released before all of them have concluded.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Transcribed interviews are typically conducted by committee staff over several hours, and both parties are granted extended time for questioning, compared to the five-minute increments afforded to members during publicly televised hearings. More interviews are set to take place over the next few months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2175052\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2175052\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Biden aide Bernal invokes Fifth Amendment in autopen probe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3691,"featured_media":2462398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Anthony-Bernal-2-1024x683.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[57955,55402,45995,57386,36160],"class_list":["post-2462397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-anthony-bernal","tag-biden-autopen","tag-fifth-amendment","tag-legal-investigation","tag-political-controversy"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Anthony-Bernal-2-1024x683.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3691"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2462397"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2462401,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462397\/revisions\/2462401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2462398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2462397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2462397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2462397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}