Biden’s cognitive health under scrutiny as Trump demands inquiry

President Donald Trump on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, ordered a formal scrutiny into Joe Biden’s conduct during his presidency, alleging that senior aides concealed what he claims was Biden’s “cognitive decline.”

The probe will supposedly build upon existing Republican efforts to challenge Biden’s legacy.

This it will purportedly do by discrediting his decision-making and potentially undoing several of his executive actions.

The actions include pardons and regulatory measures introduced near the end of his term.

In response to the announcement, Biden firmly rejected the accusations, dismissing them as baseless. “Let me be clear,” he said in a statement.

“I made the decisions during my presidency.

I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations.

Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, have intensified their scrutiny of Biden’s mental and physical condition.

On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee, requested testimony from five of Biden’s senior advisers and former aides, including Ron Klain, his first chief of staff.

The House Oversight Committee was chaired by Representative James Comer of Kentucky,

According to CBS News, the committee had already begun speaking with four other individuals connected to the former administration.

Separately, a Justice Department attorney, Ed Martin, initiated an inquiry into Biden’s issuance of clemencies during his final days in office.

This includes pardons granted to certain death row inmates and family members, which some Republicans are now examining for potential abuse of power.

Questions about Biden’s cognitive health have been a longstanding talking point among Republicans.

It has also been a consistent theme in Trump’s criticisms.

Trump has repeatedly argued that Biden was not fully in control of the executive branch.

He claims aides were making decisions on his behalf in an effort to mask his cognitive decline.

Concerns about Biden’s health intensified following a poor debate performance during the 2024 election season.

This ultimately led to his withdrawal from the race.

Although Biden, 82, is only a few years older than Trump, who turns 79 this month,

Public and media attention on his mental fitness grew even sharper after it was revealed that Biden had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer during his presidency.

Recent reporting, including a co-authored book by CNN’s Jake Tapper, has further fueled the controversy.

The book claims that several top Democrats and members of Biden’s inner circle privately questioned his ability to fulfill the duties of the presidency.

It cited in the House Oversight Committee’s expanded investigation,

In a memo released alongside the investigation’s announcement, Trump criticized Biden’s use of an autopen, to authorize executive documents.

Autopen is a device used to replicate signatures and routinely employed by presidents.

Trump questioned the legitimacy of those documents and asked, “Who was really running the country while Biden was president?”

Trump described the alleged concealment of Biden’s condition as “one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history.”

He claimed the public was deliberately misled about who was actually exercising presidential power.

Trump appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Counsel David Warrington to oversee the investigation.

Comer, leading the House Oversight Committee, has called for recorded interviews with five key Biden officials:

• senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn,
• former chief of staff Ron Klain,
• deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed, and,
• former presidential counselor Steve Ricchetti.

Comer alleges these individuals were “eyewitnesses” to Biden’s condition and potentially involved in covering it up.

Additionally, Comer renewed demands for Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, and four former senior aides.

The aides include Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams, and Neera Tanden.

The demand was for them to testify before the committee.

He warned that if voluntary cooperation isn’t arranged soon, subpoenas would be issued within the week.

Democratic leaders have condemned the investigations as politically motivated and designed to distract from current policy issues.

Former President Bill Clinton, in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, defended Biden’s mental capacity.

Clinton said he believed the former president was competent during their interactions.

“The only concern I thought he had to deal with was: ‘Could anybody do that job until they were 86?’” Clinton remarked.

“We’d had several long talks.

“I had never seen him and walked away thinking, ‘He can’t do this anymore.’”