Former Biden White House deputy chief of staff for policy Bruce Reed joined other Biden aides Tuesday in telling House lawmakers that Americans didn’t need to have any concern over the former president’s mental acuity.
Mr. Reed arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday for a voluntary transcribed interview with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee as part of the probe into Mr. Biden’s mental decline and his administration’s use of the autopen while he was in office.
A source familiar with the interview said Mr. Reed’s “continued defense of the president’s fitness is hardly surprising.”
The source said when Mr. Reed was asked whether Americans’ concerns about Mr. Biden’s mental fitness were legitimate, he said he believes “Americans should not have had any concerns about the president’s mental faculties.”
Mr. Reed attributed Mr. Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate performance against then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to his stutter, and said the decision to hold the debate early was a strategy to get ahead of early voting and the Olympics. He said Mr. Biden’s mental capability played no role in choosing a debate date.
He told lawmakers that Mr. Biden’s team anticipated questions would come up about his mental decline during a July 2024 interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, but that Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s White House physician, dismissed cognitive tests as “meaningless.”
Mr. Reed served with Mr. Biden for his entire term. He was chief of staff during Mr. Biden’s vice presidency and held senior roles in the 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns.
He was one of many former Biden aides to be summoned to answer questions for the House probe. Last week Steve Ricchetti, former counselor to the president, and Mike Donilon, former senior adviser to the president, appeared for their own transcribed interviews.
Neera Tanden, former staff secretary, Ashley Williams, former deputy director of Oval Office operations and Ron Klain, former chief of staff, also appeared for transcribed interviews.
Both said the probe into Mr. Biden’s mental decline was unnecessary and that he was a leader throughout his time in office.
Some others who chose not to appear voluntarily and were instead subpoenaed by Oversight Chair James Comer, Kentucky Republican, among them Mr. O’Connor; Anthony Bernal, former first lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff; and Annie Tomasini, a longtime aide to Mr. Biden who served as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff towards the end of Mr. Biden’s term.
All three refused to answer questions and invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Anita Dunn, former senior adviser to the president for communications, is set to appear later this week.