Believe it or not, congressional Republicans are still investigating Joe Biden — evidently, the former president continues to be old — including a House Oversight Committee interview this week with the Democrat’s former White House physician.
As The Associated Press reported, the doctor, who’d been subpoenaed to appear, chose not to answer GOP lawmakers’ questions.
Dr. Kevin O’Connor invoked his rights under the Fifth Amendment during a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee, his attorney and lawmakers said. … David Schertler, one of O’Connor’s lawyers, said the doctor had ‘no choice’ but to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights in testimony before the committee. Schertler cited both O’Connor’s responsibilities to protect patient privacy as a doctor and the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into Biden’s use of the autopen.
The panel hapless Republican chairman, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, said O’Connor’s refusal to testify made it “clear there was a conspiracy.”
Maybe, or maybe the physician’s lawyer was telling the truth and this was the only feasible approach to the line of inquiry.
Either way, Comer predictably appeared on Fox News hours after the closed-door interaction and told viewers, “You plead the Fifth usually when you have criminal liability.”
Conservative media quickly embraced the same line. Fox’s Jesse Watters said on Wednesday night, “When the truth’s harmless, no one hides behind the Fifth.” A day later, Watters pushed a similar line, declaring, “Usually, people don’t plead the Fifth when there’s no criminal liability.”
Of course, if these Republicans genuinely believe that, I can’t wait to introduce them to Donald Trump and his team. Around this time three years ago, for example, as New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office continued its investigation into the Trump Organization’s fraudulent business practices, the Republican indicated in advance that he’d assert his Fifth Amendment privileges, invoking his right against self-incrimination. As NBC News reported soon after, he did exactly that — a great many times. The deposition lasted four hours, and the only question the former president answered was about his name, Trump attorney Ron Fischetti told NBC News. A source with knowledge of the deposition said Trump took the Fifth more than 440 times. He wasn’t alone. In fact, as regular readers might recall, other Trump allies did the same thing: Folks like John Eastman, Mike Flynn and Jeffrey Clark, among others, reportedly took the Fifth in an unrelated cases — in some instances, roughly 100 times. So, does Comer genuinely believe, “You plead the Fifth usually when you have criminal liability”? If so, how does he explain Trump’s decision to plead the Fifth more than 400 times a few years ago?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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