Overview

• Former White House spokesman Ian Sams appeared voluntarily for a closed-door, transcribed interview in the GOP-led Oversight Committee’s inquiry into alleged concealment of Biden’s decline and the use of an autopen for executive actions and clemency.
• Chairman James Comer said Sams described four total interactions with Biden during 2022–2024 — two in-person meetings, one virtual meeting, and one phone call — and called the session the most informative to date.
• Republicans are scrutinizing whether significant orders and mass pardons were authorized without Biden’s personal consent, while legal experts note autopen use can be lawful and Biden has said, “I made every decision.”
• Cooperation has varied, with several subpoenaed witnesses — including Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Anthony Bernal, and Annie Tomasini — invoking the Fifth Amendment in recent depositions.
• Comer said Harris’s testimony would be “helpful” and a subpoena remains possible, and separate reporting cited internal DOJ emails warning that broad clemency language risked freeing violent offenders.