For years, commentators and some opponents raised concerns about Joe Biden’s age and memory, but these intensified after several public gaffes and a widely panned debate performance during his re-election campaign, eventually contributing to his decision to withdraw from the 2024 race.
House Republicans, led by the Oversight Committee, investigated Biden’s fitness, culminating in their October 27 to 28, 2025 report titled The Biden Autopen Presidency: Decline, Delusion, and Deception in the White House, alleging aides concealed his cognitive decline.
The report claimed senior aides effectively wielded presidential authority and hid Biden’s mental deterioration, but raised more questions than definitive proof. Republicans viewed witnesses’ reluctance to fully cooperate as evidence of a cover-up on Biden’s health.
Ex-chief of staff Jeff Zients testified that Biden’s decision-making slowed and his recall of names and dates worsened over time, and that he had urged a full medical and cognitive evaluation after the poor debate performance.
Comer urged President Trump’s DOJ, via Attorney General Pam Bondi, to scrutinize all Biden executive actions, arguing his mental state at signing times is unverifiable. He declared autopen-signed actions void absent decision-making records.
Did I hear the word ‘Autopen?’ Because I think it’s the biggest scandal maybe of the last 100 years in this country. So, when I hear that word, I think it has to be discussed because the fake news will try and hide it.
President Donald Trump
In a symbolic gesture that became a focal point of the investigation, the White House hung a portrait of the autopen machine in place of Biden during a public event, drawing immediate criticism and mockery from opponents who called it further proof the president had been replaced by the signing device.
What led up to this
In February 2024, Special Counsel Robert Hur released his report on Biden’s handling of classified documents, declining to recommend charges but describing Biden’s memory as significantly limited. He noted that Biden struggled to recall key dates such as his son Beau’s death and his vice-presidential term. This language became a central reference point in later debates about his cognitive decline.
Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, released May 2025, detailed Biden’s decline via over 200 interviews. They cited forgotten allies and names, blank stares, wheelchair discussions for 2024 re-election, and aides’ gaslighting denial. The book alleged the family hid Beau Biden’s brain tumor size and Beau’s symptoms while in office, signaling early Biden deterioration after the 2015 death.
From June to September 2025, House Oversight Chair James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, held depositions and transcribed interviews with over a dozen former Biden aides, including chiefs of staff Ron Klain and Jeff Zients.
What will happen next
The report recommended the D.C. Board of Medicine probe Biden’s physician Kevin O’Connor for allegedly misleading on health, citing his Fifth Amendment invocation, physician-patient privilege claim, and skipping cognitive testing.
Comer also requested DOJ investigate O’Connor and aides Anthony Bernal and Annie Tomasini, who invoked the Fifth Amendment, for potential crimes during Biden’s term.
Joe Biden has dismissed allegations that his aides acted independently of him when he issued numerous pardons and commutations during the closing days of his presidency.
Let me be clear: 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.
Former President Joe Biden
Friends and allies speak out
George Clooney, a longtime Biden friend and fundraiser, witnessed Biden’s decline firsthand at a June 2024 Hollywood event he co-hosted. Biden reportedly failed to recognize Clooney during conversation despite aide reminders, appearing slow and nearly catatonic and aged a decade since 2022.
Clooney was shaken, later penning a July New York Times OpEd calling for Biden to quit the race as not the Joe Biden of 2010 or 2020, citing time as unbeatable.
Kamala Harris, in her September 2025 memoir 107 Days, called Biden’s solo re-election decision recklessness driven by ego, not a conspiracy but fatigue-related slips at 81. She defended his presidential competence, saying he was deeply knowledgeable compared to Trump, but regretted not pushing harder, noting she never saw incapacity behind closed doors.
Why it matters
The House Republican investigation into Biden’s use of the autopen and allegations of concealed cognitive decline represent the most formal and detailed challenge to his fitness since he left office. While the report has not produced definitive proof that Biden was incapacitated, it has intensified broader questions about age, accountability, and transparency in presidential decision-making, with potential implications for how executive actions from his final months are viewed.
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