Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is expected to sit down with House Oversight Committee investigators behind closed doors in September, Fox News Digital has learned.
A House Oversight Committee aide told Fox News Digital that she’s one of four high-profile former Biden officials who have scheduled interviews with the panel.
Also expected to appear in the coming weeks are Ian Sams, former special assistant to the president and senior advisor in the White House Counsel’s Office; Andrew Bates, former deputy assistant to the president and senior deputy press secretary; and Jeff Zients, former White House chief of staff, the aide said.
Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is investigating allegations that Biden’s former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether any executive actions were commissioned via autopen without the president’s full knowledge. Biden allies have pushed back against those claims.
In an interview with The New York Times on Thursday, Biden affirmed he ‘made every decision’ on his own.
All four new witnesses are scheduled to appear for voluntary transcribed interviews, the Oversight aide said.
Jean-Pierre is expected on Sept. 12, Sams on Aug. 21, Bates on Sept. 5, and Zeints on Sept. 18, Fox News Digital was told.
With Zeints’ appearance, both former Biden chiefs of staff will have met with House investigators.
Ronald Klain, who led Biden’s White House staff during the earlier part of his term, is due to sit down for a voluntary transcribed interview later this month.
Comer has so far spoken with four ex-Biden aides, including two under subpoena – ex-White House physician Kevin O’Connor and Anthony Bernal, a longtime aide to ex-first lady Jill Biden.
Both Bernal and O’Connor pleaded the Fifth Amendment but denied it was an admission of guilt.
Former deputy White House chief of staff Annie Tomasini was initially expected to appear for a transcribed interview on Friday but was subpoenaed earlier this week at her counsel’s request.
The interviews and depositions are largely expected to be staff-led, with the exception of appearances by Comer and occasionally other members of the House Oversight Committee.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, has made surprise appearances at each of the last three sit-downs.
Meanwhile, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., publicly called for Comer to subpoena Jill Biden after Bernal’s deposition on Wednesday.
A source familiar with the Biden team’s thinking called Republicans’ probe ‘dangerous’ and ‘an attempt to smear and embarrass.’
‘And their hope is for just one tiny inconsistency between witnesses to appear so that Trump’s DOJ prosecute his political opponents and continue his campaign of revenge,’ the source said.
