{"id":2488111,"date":"2025-09-18T10:40:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T14:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-biden-chief-of-staff-arrives-for-house-oversight-autopen-investigation\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T10:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T14:44:10","slug":"former-biden-chief-of-staff-arrives-for-house-oversight-autopen-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-biden-chief-of-staff-arrives-for-house-oversight-autopen-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Biden chief of staff arrives for House Oversight 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\">22<\/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%2Fformer-biden-chief-of-staff-arrives-for-house-oversight-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=2488111&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>The article reports that Jeff Zients, former White House chief of staff to President joe Biden, appeared for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/don-jr-i-wont-jump-on-bandwagon-to-cancel-sen-cruz\/\" title=\"Don Jr.: I won\u2019t jump on bandwagon to cancel Sen. Cruz\">closed-door interview<\/a> with the House Oversight Committee. The interview is part of a broader investigation into whether Biden governance officials concealed the president&#8217;s mental decline or authorized official acts, such as using the autopen (a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-republicans-have-found-in-their-investigation-of-bidens-autopen-so-far\/\" title=\"What Republicans have found in their ... of Biden\u2019s ... so far\">mechanical signature device<\/a>), without Biden&#8217;s consent. Committee Chairman James Comer suggested that Zients played a key role in decision-making during this period and may have been involved in controversial pardons, including that of Dr. Fauci.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation has scrutinized Biden&#8217;s mental and physical fitness in office, with Comer accusing senior officials of possibly usurping presidential authority and hiding signs of Biden&#8217;s decline. Zients, who served through much of Biden&#8217;s term, is the last of 14 aides to be interviewed. The committee is assessing whether White House staff coordinated efforts to obscure the president&#8217;s condition or performed presidential duties on his behalf.<\/p>\n<p>The use of the autopen,while legally permissible,is being questioned regarding whether Biden authorized specific uses or understood its full application. Biden denies any improper delegation of his duties. The Oversight committee has also interviewed other senior officials, including former chiefs of staff Ron Klain and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. The panel plans to issue a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pentagon-spends-2-years-investigating-former-wh-physician-finds-hes-a-bad-boss-drinks-beer-sleeps-on-planes\/\" title=\"Pentagon Spends 2 Years Investigating Former WH Physician, Finds He\u2019s A Bad Boss, Drinks Beer, Sleeps On Planes\">final report<\/a> potentially recommending legislative changes related to presidential succession, clarity, and the 25th Amendment. <br \/> <!DOCTYPE html><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/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 chief of staff arrives for House Oversight 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\">\n<p>Former White House chief of staff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3796070\/white-house-accuses-biden-staffer-impersonating-chief-of-staff-autopen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jeff Zients<\/a>&nbsp;arrived on Capitol Hill Thursday for a closed-door interview with the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/house-oversight-committee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">House Oversight Committee<\/a>&nbsp;as part of the panel&rsquo;s investigation into whether Biden administration aides concealed the president&rsquo;s mental decline or executed official acts on his behalf without consent.<\/p>\n<p>Zients did not respond to shouted questions from reporters upon entering the committee&rsquo;s secure interview room.&nbsp;<span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">Chairman<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/james-comer\" target=\"_blank\">&nbsp;James Comer<\/a>&nbsp;(R-KY) said, &ldquo;We believe Zients is the guy that was potentially making a lot of decisions down the stretch and had a lot of responsibility with respect to the unauthorized use of the autopen.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3813343\/military-helicopter-crashes-near-washington-base\/\">Military helicopter crashes near Washington base<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3813308\/watch-live-dc-officials-testify-before-house-oversight-committee\/\">WATCH LIVE: DC officials testify before House Oversight Committee<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3813266\/kimmel-cancellation-continues-trend-of-trump-victories-against-legacy-media\/\">Kimmel cancellation continues trend of Trump victories against legacy media<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">FILE &ndash; White House chief of staff Jeff Zients arrives for an event on artificial intelligence systems during an event in the East Room of the White House, Oct. 30, 2023, in Washington (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci, File).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">The interview follows months of scrutiny by Comer, who, in a June 27 letter to Zients, accused senior White House officials of possibly &ldquo;usurping authority&rdquo; from then-President&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Biden<\/a>&nbsp;and hiding signs of his &ldquo;rapidly worsening mental and physical faculties.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"tpd-featured-video featured-post-video in-content bridtv\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2229735\" class=\"brid\" style=\"width:1280;height:720;\"> <\/div>\n<div class=\"tpd-featured-video-placeholder\" style=\"position:relative;overflow:hidden;width:100%;padding-top:56.25%;background-color:#000;\">\n<div style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;bottom:0;right:0;width:100%;height:100%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;The Committee seeks to understand who made key decisions and exercised the powers of the executive branch during the previous administration, possibly without former President Biden&rsquo;s consent,&rdquo; Comer wrote in the letter. &ldquo;The Committee requests your testimony to evaluate your eye-witness account of former President Biden&rsquo;s decline.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Zients is the last of 14 total former Biden aides and staffers interviewed in the sweeping inquiry. Comer said Sunday he believed Zients to be the most important interview of the investigation to date, saying &ldquo;a lot of things point to him as being one of the chief instigators of many of the pardons, including the pardon of Dr. Fauci. So we want to know what the process was.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Zients served as Biden&rsquo;s chief of staff from early 2023 through the end of his term, a period that included his <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >widely criticized presidential debate performance<\/a> against then-candidate President Donald Trump. In the days after that event,&nbsp;Axios&nbsp;reported that Zients convened a full-staff call to urge aides to rally behind the president and move past what he called &ldquo;one night.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We all know he is a great president,&rdquo; Zients reportedly told staff on the July 3 call.<\/p>\n<p>The committee cited that call in its letter, arguing Zients&rsquo;s involvement could be evidence of a coordinated strategy to downplay or obscure Biden&rsquo;s condition inside the White House. Axios also reported that many staff officials were frustrated by vague talking points from leadership and had little explanation of what occurred during the debate.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The scope of your responsibilities &mdash; both official and otherwise &mdash; and personal interactions within the Oval Office cannot go without investigation,&rdquo; Comer wrote. &ldquo;If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/czarbucks-fiscal-decisions-increasingly-influenced-by-unelected-officials-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Czarbucks: Fiscal decisions increasingly influenced by unelected officials - Washington Examiner\">chief executive&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s condition &mdash; or to perform his duties &mdash;Congress may need to consider a legislative response.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Zients appeared voluntarily after committee staff requested confirmation or an alternative date in lieu of a subpoena. His interview had initially been scheduled for Sept. 3 but was postponed following a request from the White House.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the sweeping investigation, the Oversight panel is also investigating the Biden White House&rsquo;s use of the&nbsp;autopen, a mechanical signing device used by past administrations but now under renewed scrutiny by Republicans who question whether Biden&rsquo;s signature was applied to bills or legal orders without his awareness.<\/p>\n<p>While using the autopen is technically legal,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/file\/494411\/dl?inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to a 2005 DOJ memorandum<\/a>, Republicans are probing whether there is any evidence to show the president assented to his signature being placed on certain documents or fully understood how the autopen was being used in his name.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Biden has pushed back against any suggestion that his staff executed core presidential duties on his behalf, saying he was aware of how the autopen was being used.<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump has called Biden&rsquo;s use of the autopen to sign various executive orders and grant clemency to thousands of inmates &ldquo;one of the biggest&rdquo; political scandals in contemporary times.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3796070\/white-house-accuses-biden-staffer-impersonating-chief-of-staff-autopen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WHITE HOUSE ACCUSES BIDEN STAFFER OF IMPERSONATING CHIEF OF STAFF IN AUTOPEN INVESTIGATION<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">The committee has already interviewed other senior Biden officials, including former Chief of Staff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ron-klain\" target=\"_blank\">Ron Klain<\/a>&nbsp;and,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3804766\/karine-jean-pierre-house-oversight-committee-autopen-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\">most recently<\/a>, former White House press secretary&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/karine-jean-pierre\/\" target=\"_blank\">Karine Jean-Pierre<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Comer has said the panel will issue a final report with potential legislative recommendations related to presidential succession, transparency, and use of the&nbsp;25th Amendment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.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 chief of staff attends House Oversight autopen probe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2488112,"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\/09\/AP24165730058437.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[3620,51609,33576],"class_list":["post-2488111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-biden","tag-chief-of-staff-2","tag-house-oversight"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP24165730058437.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2488111","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\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2488111"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2488111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2488115,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2488111\/revisions\/2488115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2488112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2488111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2488111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2488111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}