Overview
- The Republican majority on the House Oversight Committee released the report on Oct. 28, asserting internal conflict after the June 27, 2024 debate and saying full interview transcripts will be published later.
- Former chief of staff Jeff Zients testified that he and Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken, Gina Raimondo, and Denis McDonough urged Biden to consider leaving the 2024 race.
- Zients said he pressed physician Kevin O’Connor for a full medical work-up, as Jill Biden’s team and deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini took lead roles in managing the president’s schedule and public movements.
- Other senior aides defended Biden’s fitness and cast concerns as media-driven, with Steve Ricchetti disputing that voters saw cognitive decline and Mike Donilon downplaying the debate’s electoral impact.
- Three close aides—Tomasini, O’Connor, and Anthony Bernal—invoked the Fifth Amendment, and Republicans asked the D.C. Board of Medicine to review O’Connor while urging Justice Department investigation.