Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre arrived at the Capitol on Friday for the House Oversight Committee’s autopen investigation, marking the 13th member of the Biden administration to testify.
Jean-Pierre, who was press secretary from 2022 to 2025, is one of the higher-profile officials to speak before the panel, which is investigating whether former President Joe Biden‘s senior advisers abused the mechanical signature device used amid reports of his mental decline.
She entered the O’Neill House Office Building shortly before 10 a.m. but did not respond to questions from reporters.
HOUSE OVERSIGHT NEARS THE END OF ITS INVESTIGATION INTO BIDEN’S AUTOPEN USAGE
Jean-Pierre’s interview follows her public break with the White House. She announced in June she was leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent and that she would write a book, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.
The book is set to be released on Oct. 21.
As press secretary, Jean-Pierre repeatedly denied reports regarding Biden’s mental fitness during his time in office. After the president’s poor debate performance against now-President Donald Trump, she acknowledged he “did not have a great night” and claimed he had a cold.
When asked in a press briefing what medication the president was on for his cold, Jean-Pierre said, “He was not taking any cold medication,” and denied he was taking anything that could have interfered with his performance.
Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, claimed during a podcast interview with a Channel 5 YouTube account created by Andrew Callaghan that his father was given Ambien to help him sleep.
It was not the only occasion Jean-Pierre was pressed about Biden’s health. After news broke on July 8, 2024, that a Parkinson’s disease specialist, Dr. Kevin Cannard, had visited the White House on several occasions, reporters pressed the press secretary on whether the visits were to see Biden.
After a heated back-and-forth, Jean-Pierre claimed Biden had never been treated for Parkinson’s.
“Has the president been treated for Parkinson’s? No,” she stated. “Is he being treated for Parkinson’s? No. Is he taking medication for Parkinson’s? No.”
In June 2024, Jean-Pierre elevated claims that videos appearing to show Biden wandering off, particularly from a G7 event in Italy, with clips shortened to just before he greeted paratroopers, were “cheap fakes,” or manipulated videos rather than proof of a mental decline.
BIDEN SPOKESMAN IAN SAMS ONLY MET FORMER PRESIDENT TWICE, COMER SAYS
In a letter compelling her testimony, the House Oversight Committee said it was requesting her appearance “to evaluate your eye-witness account of former President Biden’s decline.
“You were not only near the president daily, but you were ‘alongside the ranks of the president’s top confidantes like senior advisers Mike Donilon, Steve Richetti and Bruce Reed,’” the letter reads. “Your assertion, on multiple occasions, that President Biden’s decline was attributable to such tactics as ‘cheap fakes’ or ‘misinformation’ cannot go without investigation.”
Donilon, Richetti, and Reed are among the dozen other Biden officials who have testified in front of the committee. During Donilon’s testimony, the longtime Biden aide told investigators he was paid $4 million for Biden’s reelection campaign and would have been paid another $4 million if Biden had won.
However, he claimed to have no knowledge of the administration’s use of the autopen, which the committee is particularly interested in learning more about after Biden’s signature was used for a wave of executive actions and pardons just before he left office.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who is leading House Republicans’ investigation, told reporters Friday morning that a report summarizing the investigation’s findings is “imminent” and will be released once the panel wraps up its interviews. Former White House chief of staff Jeff Zients is expected to testify in front of the committee on Sept. 18.
“This is a serious investigation about the legality of the use of the autopen, the excessive use of the autopen, and whether or not Joe Biden had any idea who was using the autopen, and what the autopen was used to sign with respect to legal documents,” Comer told reporters before Jean-Pierre’s interview.
Trump’s White House counsel launched an investigation in July into the Biden administration’s use of the autopen, in conjunction with the Justice Department.
Recent documents released show that Biden’s senior staff initially pushed for him to approve and sign by hand presidential clemency actions himself, but that, near the end of his term, that recommendation was not followed.
The House Oversight Commitee chairman, referencing the emails and memos, claimed there are “inconsistencies” with what officials have told the committee and what the emails show in how the Biden administration administered the autopen.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to argue that the process that was used for these audits is the ideal process, and what we’ve seen with the emails that have surfaced in the last week, even the Merrick Garland Department of Justice was very concerned about how this administration was using the autopen,” Comer said.
BIDEN’S TEAM WANTED HIM TO SIGN PARDONS BY HAND, NOT AUTOPEN
Multiple presidents have been known to use an autopen during their time in the White House, usually to sign presidential letters and messages. However, the Trump administration has alleged it could have been used without Biden’s knowledge.
Comer previously told the Washington Examiner that these memos “reveal President Biden neither approved — nor may have even been consulted on — thousands of pardons.”
