An aide to former President Joe Biden spent Friday on Capitol Hill testifying for hours behind closed doors in the latest interview in the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Biden’s inner circle and his use of the autopen.
Ashley Williams, a special assistant to the former president and deputy director of Oval Office operations, entered a House office building at 10:45 a.m. and did not take any questions from reporters. She left the interview room around 4:50 p.m. and avoided the press as she went. Her six-hour stint on Capitol Hill included a lunch break and another short recess before wrapping.
In her testimony, Williams said she “did not recall” multiple instances during her time in the White House, a source familiar with the matter told the Washington Examiner. These included whether teleprompters were used in Cabinet meetings, discussions about Biden using a wheelchair, a cognitive test, and discussions of Biden’s mental or physical decline.
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.
Unlike O’Connor, Williams appeared voluntarily for a transcribed interview. The House Oversight Committee’s investigative and legal staff led the questioning. With the House not in session, just one lawmaker was spotted leaving the hearing room, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), who said Williams was cooperating.
“I do think that it is important that I show up because if they are going to make allegations about the former commander in chief, egregious allegations as they continue to wage, I want to make sure that I’m in the room to correct the record,” Crockett said.
Williams, a longtime aide to the Bidens, works at the former president’s office. She also worked on his 2020 campaign and was part of his transition team in 2021 following his victory. Before that, she was an intern and assistant to then-second lady Jill Biden during the Obama administration.
The committee has continued to expand the investigation in the last few months following the release of CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson’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,” the book stated.
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.
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Executive privilege allows the witness to withhold information from Congress to protect the integrity of the executive branch. Bernal is 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 they all concluded. However, footage of O’Connor’s interview was released Wednesday evening after he pleaded the Fifth. The majority and minority committee staff typically conduct transcribed interviews over several hours. The scheduled interviews are set to take place through Aug. 7.
