Below is a slightly expanded version of my column in U.S. News & World Report on the investigations into President Joe Biden’s mental state in his second term of office. While I do not expect any prosecution to come from these investigations, there are ample reasons why we should get answers to some of these questions as we continue to struggle with the problem of presidential incapacity.
Here is the column:
“Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie?”
When then-President Joe Biden asked in September 2022 if House Rep. Jackie Walorski, an Indiana Republican who had died weeks earlier in a car accident, was in a meeting, observers were shocked. Biden had not only issued a statement of condolence; he attended the ceremony to lower the flags at the White House in her honor.
As Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple noted last week, that moment should have been a wake-up call. In Washington parlance, it left no room for “plausible deniability” about whether Biden was still fit to hold the office of president. And it wasn’t just Democratic politicians who were willfully blind to Biden’s obvious deterioration.It was also the media.
That’s why the country should fully support President Donald Trump’s June 4 order for his administration to investigate Biden’s competence and answer some of these questions, including the possible abuse of an autopen to sign legislation, pardons and other documents while he was president, instead of looking for political motivations.
Similarly, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee is also investigating.
The New York Times called it part of Trump’s “campaign of retribution against his perceived enemies” and “the latest effort by President Trump to stoke conspiracy theories about his predecessor.”
There is a weird dissonance when journalists blame Biden’s White House for a coverup, but then criticize efforts to investigate that coverup. While criminal charges are unlikely to stem from the investigation, if the White House autopen, for instance, was used without Biden’s consent, that would amount to forgery, obstruction of justice, fraud or other serious crimes.
The complicity of politicians, staff and even the press in deception is nothing new in Washington. A century ago, after President Woodrow Wilson experienced a severe stroke in September 1919, his wife, Edith, and his staff covered up the severity of his condition, which made him incapable of fulfilling his duties until the end of his term and affected the race for a Democratic successor. To end such abuses, we must demand accountability and greater transparency on matters of presidential health and competence.
The 25th Amendment of the Constitution was intended to address succession issues, including the incapacity of a president, but it is very difficult to remove a president without the support of the vice president and most of the Cabinet, which means little can be done without a virtual mutiny within the White House.
That is particularly true when staff have an interest in maintaining the illusion to keep the president and themselves in power. With Biden, according to the reporting in the book “Original Sin” by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, the staff regularly cut off the access of Cabinet secretaries to Biden, limited public events and scripted short remarks for the president to read from teleprompters.
Allegations that Biden’s staff misused the autopen are exceptionally difficult to prove, and Biden has issued a statement insisting he had full knowledge of everything that was signed.
Absent a confession of incapacity, Congress would need someone like John Dean, the White House counsel during the Nixon administration who was willing to break from the ranks and implicate his former associates. So far, there do not appear to be any Deans on the Biden staff, who are likely eager to avoid being implicated in potential improper use of the autopen or other actions that may have circumvented the president or covered up his decline.
But that doesn’t mean the Trump administration and Congress shouldn’t be trying to get to the bottom of what happened. The worst thing for the American people would be a collective shrug and a resumption of business as usual.
In Washington, it is the cover-up that is often the basis for prosecution rather than the original crime. The most likely path to success in such investigations is to get staffers to trip the wire in interviews by lying to or misleading investigators. Such false statements can be (and often are) criminally charged.
Such charges are then often used to wedge witnesses into cooperating with investigators in exchange for plea agreements. One cooperating witness can force a cascading failure for the defense as additional staff members are implicated and rush to make their own plea bargains. It is the Washington version of musical chairs: You do not want to be the last staffer without a plea to sit on.
Currently scheduled to testify before the House Oversight Committee in the coming weeks are Neera Tanden, the former director of Biden’s Domestic Policy Council; Anthony Bernal, Biden’s former assistant and senior advisor to the first lady; Ashley Williams, a former special assistant to Biden and deputy director of Oval Office operations; and Annie Tomasini, Biden’s former deputy chief of staff. Their statements might push divisions to the surface.
Biden was kept on a reduced schedule, allowing him to rally for single events. That is the difference between a major stroke and creeping cognitive decline. The 25th Amendment was designed for catastrophic medical events, not the slow slide to senility.
The result for the office can be largely the same, but the chances of detection are much lower. For now, the Biden scandal shows that very little has changed since the Wilson scandal. With a protective first lady, a lax White House physician and a cooperative staff, it is still possible to conceal the alleged incapacity of a commander in chief. That is why you might not have a “Weekend at Bernie’s“, but you can easily have a full term with Biden.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the best-selling author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
What three parties have voted against stopping Irans’ uranium enrichment. The Communist Party of China, the Socialist Party of Russia and the Democratic party of The United States. https://www.npr.org/2025/06/12/nx-s1-5431395/iran-nuclear-enrichment-un-compliance. See paragraph five. Birds of a feather.
LOL…. Figures.
Hey Joe, where’s your wife? Is she messing around town with another man?
Biden had all the information about Iran enriching uranium but he couldn’t understand what he was being told. Iran even told the world what it was going to do and while all of his minions remained with their heads in the sand, Joe asked for one more scoop of ice cream. https://www.npr.org/2025/06/12/nx-s1-5431395/iran-nuclear-enrichment-un-compliance. The Dems next best hope for the future is Gavin Newsom who is just as demented as Joe at a much earlier age. Will you let them pull the wool over your eyes again? Rest assured, they’ll do it again with a demented smile on their faces. For a while the Joker ran the show in Washington D.C.
Think
One thing is for sure. Iran will try to rebuild it’s weapons of war. This bombing has put a stop for how long?
But they don’t have much free cash as they did, when O-dumber game them billions!
https://tips.fbi.gov/home
I am very satisfied that Trump acted, but we are still left with questions.
There is talk of another ‘’unknown’’ site that was not hit.
One time I heard about trucks ln a line leaving Fordow.
Can enriched nuclear material have been placed elsewhere and can it be found in the rubble?
Will another nuclear country provide Iran with what it wants?
We are not free and clear. That is why I think Trump will continue to push for an unconditional agreement, and not push for regime change.
Omg, ever see Iranian roads? 4get it.
What is important is that we have in place some sort of remedy that makes public mention of the need to rehabilitate the office once it has been compromised. This, obviously, exists in the office of the vice president. This remedy proceeds on the assumption that the executive staff of the office of the president has made accommodations to replace the impaired officer with a competent one, one who is current on all immediate matters of concern which exist in the office at the time the impairment. This is the vice president. We need to ask about what motivations existed at the time of the impairment to conceal its presence. Were the motivations unlawful and, if so, the justice department needs to intervene. The remedies are there and with a rational basis. The decision to avoid the existing remedies should be the subject of future oversight in coordination with the justice department. This embarrassing moment could have been avoided and the political jeopardy that resulted from the avoidance of performed duties was, fortunately , nominal. We may not be so lucky next time. Is there a procedure in place to rehabilitate the office of the president when President Trump, not if President Trump, succumbs to senility?
@mweiser
You are giving too much credit. The people who were actually running the White House didn’t want Biden or Harris – they wanted to continue themselves, and they didn’t care a whit about our Constitution to begin with. Though it’s great to see the law elucidated as you have done, in this set of circumstances, it’s a moot point. This is more broadly apparent for the entire democrat apparatus by the day. The rule of law is but a trifle to them.
Yawn…..
when, not if, you seek competent psychiatric help, you’ll be better off than you are now.
I would have to disagree with the Professor when he calls Biden’s physician LAX. That is hardly the word to use. Co-conspirator might be more accurate. The WH physician has basically a dual role which is more than most physicians. Usually your role as a physician is to assess and then treat your patient to the best of your ability while also trying to prevent future maladies, advising good preventative care, and monitoring the patient for high risk events based on their past history and family history.
As a physician you also have a duty to the public. As an example, would a physician remain silent if he had a patient with a seizure disorder who was uncontrolled due to a failure of medications or unwillingness to take them. Of course not. You would notify your state BMV to have the patient’s license pulled (as some states require) and the usual standard is to be seizure free for 6 months to 1 year before being allowed to drive. Some states do not require this and I live in one that does not but it never kept me from notifying the BMV and I also told the patient I was going to do exactly that because it drove home to them that they needed to take their medicines.
The WH physician also has a duty to the public and the Republic. As I understand it Mr. Biden had no assessment of his mental status. If that is true then the WH physician was, at best, incompetent (in light of his history of 2 neurosurgical procedures and advanced age) and, at worst, a co-conspirator. But also physicians can be too close to their patients and friends. Daily exposure to your “patient” and “friend” can dull the acuity of your evaluations and you literally explain away inconsistencies that in any other patient you would explore.
There should be a mechanism for an outside evaluation, but not picked by the WH physician. We saw what in-house experts did in the Covid pandemic so I think other voices have to be heard. I would suggest an outside opinion at a Medical Center (not in Washington D.C.) with the Cabinet’s consent as well as the opposition.
The other mechanism is the President is assigned a physician, not a friend.
I agree that Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the Biden White House physician, has a lot of explaining to do. Assuming that at least some of the stories floating about are true, Dr. O’Connor should be subject to a malpractice investigation. But I think, given the many public episodes exposing Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, that there are several people (elected or confirmed by the Senate) that were in position to step in to address the situation. I would put VP Kamala Harris and Attorney General Merrick Garland somewhere at the top of that list. They, by their inaction or explicit coverup, failed the American people in my opinion. I agree with Prof Turley that it is unlikely that failure to address the situation will result in criminal prosecutions much less convictions. I do think that it is likely, though difficult to prove without a willing “John Dean”, that the autopen was invoked a time or two with no understanding by Joe Biden. The temptation for a highly placed staffer (or family member), knowing Joe Biden’s mental state, would have been extraordinarily high.
Johnathan pointed out that the design capabilities of the 25th Amendment are weak treating a slow mental decline as opposed to a sudden adverse medical event. And a lax President’s physician can aggravate the problem with a lax annual physical report. Maybe fixing that, carefully, is a good place to start. What say you?
It will all be chalked up to “For the sake of national security, we could not allow the world to know that the USA was without a leader” and the media was simply doing what was best for the nation. I’m sure that’s what Jill keeps telling herself as she tries to sleep at night.
Though I’m grateful Bernie was never in the White House, everything about 2020 stank to high heaven, from covid to the election. There is no question Biden’s was the most corrupt administration we’ve ever had, and the DNC has reached an all time low.
The lies – oh, the lies. From day one. But it was part of a larger web that was weaved for years. I doubt accountability will ever come, but we do have the power to never trust them again, and for my part, I won’t.
Almost as if on cue, progressives are flying Iranian flags, for Pete’s sake. Our modern dems haven’t done or said anything honest or organic for a very long time.
The autopen is a big one, though. Despicable what transpired for four years. Madness.
James, you are right about 2020, it was a year that set us back maybe decades, if not forever. Biden’s border disaster will be with us for ever as the left has moved on from Hilary, Obama and Schumer all saying that we must have a border and we must deport illegals to where they are now when they will fight to have KNOWN CRIMINALS remain in our country.
I truly believe that they locked down the country, not at first because of the unknowns about Covid, but after a few months in order to destroy Trump’s economy and re-election.
The little spoiled brats cannot allow Trump, or actually anyone they disagree with, to remain in power as is evidenced by them saying Trump should be impeached for using force without Congress as they all applauded Obama when he did it. It is truly sickening.
@hullbobby
Very much agreed. I think ‘two weeks to stop the spread’ was likely an honest precaution. Then they realized what they could accomplish. Given that it was global, I consider it to be one of the most egregious crimes against humanity in history, and it only got worse from there, in every respect. I consider all of it actual evil.
It is a fact that there are places, including my birth town, that STILL have not recovered from the lock downs, and in fact, have followed entropy to the point of virtual collapse, right now in 2025. Throw in all of the other malfeasance, and as you have stated, I don’t know if recovery will ever be a possibility.
At the least, it will take generations, and that is assuming those generations care. We may be looking at a project that takes the rest of the 21st century to fully correct. They have no idea the hellfire they have unleashed on themselves from the sane and freedom loving with those seemingly simple actions in 2020. Anyone that thought any of it was ‘perfectly fine’ are whistling in the dark, and likely too privileged, even if not necessarily through wealth, to have been meaningfully impacted, as with the recession of the early aughts.
DEMinished Capacity
DEIDiminished capacity.
We all saw it as far back as 2020 when he campaigned from the basement. We asked and continued to ask who was really running the Biden WH. Even as it became more and more obvious, the MSM continued to cover for him. He was “laser focused!” “Sharp as a tack!” “Running circles around younger staff!” I agree with the good professor, there will be no charges but there is the need for answers and the possible question of legality of the use of the autopen.
Upstate hits the nail on the head. The pardons may be illegitimate.
The Constitution doesn’t explicitly require pardons to be signed by the President. It does explicitly require bills to be signed by the President before they become law.
In truth, Biden has been incompetent and corrupt all his life. The real question, in my mind, is how on earth could any American have ever voted for that idiot?
“. . . for the president to read from teleprompters.” (JT)
To his credit, he did read out loud everything on the teleprompters — including the instructions.
One thing is certainly true: we now have written, audio and video evidence that shows exactly what each and every person that played any role in this deception was like when they were blatantly lying to the public.
This is why trust must always be accompanied with verify.
Hear! Hear! Excellent, Olly!
Check the dedicated office in WH labeled “Calligraphy”.
Sodas and diet sodas have been shown to lead to dementia according to studies! Be careful
Nothing will change. The media will, forever, excoriate Trump for anything and everything, and worship the Democrat party for everything they possibly can.
“It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (Macbeth 5:5)
I remember people mocking Biden in 2019, before the first primaries of 2020 and now there are some apologists trying to say that Biden “slipped” in 2023 as a way to hide their involvement in the cover up.
Joe Biden was a joke in the 80s and the party disliked the empty suit up until he was the last guy between Bernie and the nomination. It was code red at that point and all of a sudden Biden became an “elder” statesman. They will lie about any Republican that has a shot (they loved McCain before he got the nomination and after he lost the general election to Obama but while it was just him and Obama in the race McCain was Hitler) and they will love any Democrat that has a shot. They hated and mocked Harris while she was a primary candidate (not a single vote) and then loved her as the VP in 2020. But when they thought she might be harming the party’s shot at winning in 2024 there was talk of dumping her because she was so bad. Then all of a sudden she is the only alternative to Biden after the debate and Harris is now pure JOY and a new face and the second coming etc etc.
The MSM is a partisan joke.
People mocking Biden? Um… so who were they please? Receipts please.
I did.
I remember famed LIBERALS Eleanor Clift and Morton Kondracke laughing at him after he was caught plagiarizing in 1988. It is a known fact and only a moron like you would deny it.
Or did the plagiarism occur in the 1960s when he was a student at Syracuse University Law School?
Hully
Remember ALL the lies he told throughout the years.
Dustoff, he was lying up until the bitter end. Biden’s cannibals ate his uncle was just last year. The guy is a lying fabulist, a corrupt moron and a hateful and nasty piece of work.
When the President is incapacitated, you normally expect the Media to notice first. With Biden, our partisan media noticed last.
Last, no, but not at all.
Anyone for a civil war?
I think you are mistaken about the Wilson analogy. That was kept a secret. Biden was not a secret. The problem was not it could be hidden. The problem is the brazen disregard for truth, fairness, public opinion and justice coupled with the despite of the”media” to cover for them.
Plus Dennis, Gigi, George and all the Anonymous bots.
The guilty parties are The NY Times, MSNBC and PBS and all the other “journalists” who abdicated their responsibilities and aided and abetted the coverup.
I beg to differ. The guilty parties are the appointees who surrounded and lied about Biden in order to commit fraud against the American people.
I do believe that there is enough guilt to cover them all.
We initially regarded the autopen as a tool for cramped fingers and limited time, but now we know that it is also a tool for forgery and its use should be stopped. Just think what practically undetectable forgeries are possible with CGI and AI.
“We initially regarded the autopen as a tool for cramped fingers and limited time, but now we know that it is also a tool for forgery and its use should be stopped. Just think what practically undetectable forgeries are possible with CGI and AI.”
That is really a problem with no evident easy solution. I agree in concept with outlawing the autopen for Presidential signatures. But the devil is in the details. Are you just going to outlaw that particular machine design? As you note, current technology provides many ways to duplicate a signature, some of which are virtually (possibly literally, if enough money is available to spend on the tech) undetectable. That tech could be designed to operate in an almost unlimited number of ways. If outlawing it was attempted by legislation, I am extremely skeptical that any member of Congress, or staff person of same, is capable of wording the law so as to make it bulletproof. I think that the only real answer is to require Presidential signatures to be done in ink, in person, in front of a committee of impartial witnesses (preferably laypeople), and be verified immediately after. I know that there are ceremonial signature sessions now, but this would need to be the actual, official, signing, rigidly and scrupulously regulated and observed.
Blackbeard, you forgot NPR.
Yes, let’s forget NPR and PBS in all of our government spending bills.
Guilty, more guilty and most guilty. There’s no innocence. The Republicans might plead taken by surprise or disbelief. Asylum should have been challenged, States should have acted decisively and rapidly on election fraud, mega bills should have shut down and more but in disbelief the Republicans were paralyzed.