How much of the Biden administration was Biden and how much was the work of others manipulating him or his autopen?
The Biden administration was a terrible mess. But we still on’t even know for sure who was in charge of the mess, although we’re getting more information on that. For example, about that autopen:
The investigation, led by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), gained traction after the Washington Examiner first reported on Friday about Comer’s plans for the committee to investigate whether Biden personally authorized all of his clemency orders and executive actions or whether his aides, acting on his behalf, used the autopen without valid authority. …
In a statement after his closed-door announcement of the investigation at the annual Republican National Lawyers Association event, Comer said his panel would commence its investigation into “the cover-up of President Biden’s mental decline and use of autopen,” even teasing that he believes he knows which former Biden staffer operated the device.
Comer said he plans to subpoena former Biden aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, and Ashley Williams, who he says “ran interference” for the president and may have coordinated the use of the autopen.
I wonder if they’ll claim they can’t remember.
And who was chief of staff, at least during the last year or two? Apparently it was the smartest person Joe Biden knew, his son Hunter – at least, according to our newest truth-teller Jake Tapper:
WATCH: CNN's Jake Tapper says Hunter Biden "was driving the decision-making for the family."
"He was almost like a chief of staff." ? pic.twitter.com/hZVP9ACt73
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 20, 2025
Not the least bit surprising. But extremely dismaying, just like almost everything else that happened during Biden’s tenure.
Biden, if asked, will surely say he doesn’t remember, and very possibly he actually doesn’t. Aides will stick together and deny wrongdoing, and nothing can be done about it.
After a certain point, did it really matter to the cabal? Biden believed what they told him and did what they told him to do. Leave him in the loop or cut him out of it entirely, and wouldn’t the results be the same? There may have been some things that Biden refused to do or insisted on doing, but how common would that have been?
Wasn’t it the queen B* of Dems – ol H herself – that said something to the effect of “At this point, what difference does it make?”
Unless anyone believes (ha!) that those actions will be reversed. We don’t even have arrests at high level (Comey?) for things happening now, let alone in “that was then” time. (that twit from NJ is a low-level nobody to be used as a PR stunt)
President Trump is all in with the “Anonymous aides in the Oval Office with the Autopen” answer to the Clue! reality game.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/jeff-charles/2025/05/20/trump-trashes-biden-over-immigration-policy-n2657381
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/rebeccadowns/2025/05/21/trump-isnt-letting-up-on-concerns-with-bidens-use-of-the-autopen-n2657425
Oh, to fulfill your greatest wish, do almost anything.
I guess that would mean that Hunter likely pardoned himself.
If so, maybe he is, in fact, “the smartest guy I know”(TM)….
(And given that Hunter’s such a big family man…)
@AesopFan:President Trump is all in with the “Anonymous aides in the Oval Office with the Autopen” answer to the Clue! reality game.
Perhaps inviting the Bidens to throw the others under the bus.
No offense, but do we really need Tapper being in control of the narrative at this point? Is he telling the truth *this* time?
But they stayed on.
All of ‘em.
(Correct me if I’m wrong: was there a single one of ‘em that resigned?)
“Meet the Biden ‘politburo’ accused of running the country in secret: There was the aide who demanded $4 million to advise the re-election campaign. There was the enforcer who ‘cast out heretics’. And there was Jill Biden.”—
https://instapundit.com/721065/
Related:
https://instapundit.com/721108/
https://instapundit.com/721113/
To paraphrase Hamlet: “Optics, optics optics”….
+ Bonus (Scarborough Affair):
https://instapundit.com/721102/
Key malarkey:
“…Now: I was obviously wrong, but I’m not sure what the takeaway is here.…”
File under: MUCH MORE MALARKEY
After 50 years in politics was there much of a core Biden left? There were commitments to the various groups that had put him into office and there were political considerations. Those groups’ wants and needs were always evolving, and what they wanted in 2020 was different from what they thought was right in 1970. Young Joe might have felt a commitment to labor or civil rights groups, but a generation or two later, they were groups he had to please to stay in office, and whose demands had to be weighed against what was politically possible. Were there underlying convictions about what Joe would and wouldn’t do? Were those still active in the 2020s with Joe in the condition that he was in? Even when Joe insisted on something was it a matter of principle or just that he was listening to one advisor rather than another?
“Comer said he plans to subpoena former Biden aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, and Ashley Williams, who he says “ran interference” for the president and may have coordinated the use of the autopen.”
Well here is my prediction.
Anyone subpoenaed by Comer will adopt the Sgt. Schultz (of Hogan’s Hero’s fame) defense; ” I know nothing.”
IIRC, Sgt. Schultz never said “I don’t remember,” because if he did, it would have placed him in a position to know.
Biden insiders that had access to the autopen and/or knew those who used it, will simply plead ignorance; nobody will be punished.
“nobody will be punished”
In the sense you intended quite likely.
In a wider sense to include those many suffering under the misrule generated over the last four years of the Biden kakistocracy . . . um
Looks like the “prostate cancer” dodge worked. Everyone is talking about prostate cancer while this thread concerning the worst constitutional outrage in our nation’s history has exactly 12 comments.
Is there any proof Biden actually *has* prostate cancer other than information from his own handlers – the same people who lied about his dementia to the American public for years? At this point it’s like trusting “Gaza health authorities”.