In a bombshell moment that adds fuel to growing suspicions surrounding President Joe Biden’s dramatic and belated withdrawal from the 2024 race, Dr. Kevin O’Connor — Biden’s longtime personal physician — has invoked the Fifth Amendment rather than answer basic questions from Congress about the president’s declining health.
That’s right. The man who had direct knowledge of Biden’s mental and physical condition, the man who signed off on glowing medical reports even as Americans watched the president stumble, freeze, and slur his way through public appearances, is now refusing to speak under oath. For House Republicans, it’s confirmation of what millions have suspected for years: the Biden White House was engaged in a calculated deception of the American people.
Dr. O’Connor’s stunning refusal to testify before the House Oversight Committee didn’t come out of nowhere. It followed a subpoena issued by Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who is investigating whether Dr. O’Connor and other officials misled the public about the true state of President Biden’s health during his reelection campaign.
After Biden’s catastrophic debate performance in late June — which even CNN couldn’t spin — it became impossible for Democrats and their media allies to ignore reality. Biden was clearly unwell. Days later, amid party panic and plunging poll numbers, he exited the race. But the timing raised serious questions: if Biden was unfit in July, why was his doctor claiming otherwise just weeks earlier? What did Dr. O’Connor know — and when?
Now, instead of coming clean, the doctor is lawyering up.
“Dr. O’Connor’s decision to plead the Fifth speaks volumes,” said Rep. Comer in a statement Wednesday. “This isn’t about private health records. This is about transparency at the highest levels of our government. The American people deserve to know whether they were misled by this administration — and whether there was a politically motivated cover-up to keep Biden on the ballot.”
The Fifth Amendment, which protects against self-incrimination, is rarely invoked by government officials unless serious legal consequences are on the horizon. For Dr. O’Connor — a man who once described Biden as “fit for duty” — it sends a chilling message: the doctor may have more to hide than the White House wants to admit.
It’s not the first time O’Connor has come under scrutiny. Throughout Biden’s presidency, his carefully worded medical memos seemed designed to downplay concerns about the president’s cognitive decline. When Biden appeared confused during speeches or needed staffers to shepherd him off-stage, O’Connor’s updates remained suspiciously vague — filled with euphemisms like “stiff gait” and “verbal miscues.”
But it’s what O’Connor didn’t say that matters most.
Republicans are now demanding answers about whether Biden’s handlers — including his doctor — were pressured to issue misleading health reports to preserve the president’s candidacy, even as his condition deteriorated. The implications are staggering: an administration that cloaked itself in “decency” may have gaslit the public to retain power.
And it wasn’t just medical denialism. Democrats and their allies in the press spent years mocking conservative concerns about Biden’s fitness as “right-wing conspiracy theories.” Big Tech companies censored videos and posts highlighting Biden’s gaffes. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, it’s now clear that party insiders were growing increasingly alarmed.
It took one disastrous debate to finally force their hand — and only after their house of cards had already collapsed.
Now, as Rep. Comer and his Oversight Committee dig deeper, the Biden camp’s wall of silence is beginning to crack. Comer has also raised concerns about O’Connor’s ties to the Biden family’s financial dealings, including his work with a hospital company tied to First Lady Jill Biden. Could there be more than just a medical cover-up at play?
Democrats, for their part, are circling the wagons, pretending this is all political theater. But Americans know better. They watched President Biden struggle in real time. They saw the man they were told was “sharp and capable” forget names, freeze mid-sentence, and rely on note cards to answer the simplest questions. Now they’re being told that the one person who could clarify what really happened — the president’s own doctor — won’t speak.
It’s not just disappointing. It’s dangerous.
This moment isn’t about partisan politics. It’s about trust. It’s about whether the American people were fed lies in an election year to protect a crumbling presidency. And it’s about whether those responsible will be held accountable.
Dr. O’Connor may have pled the Fifth — but the questions aren’t going away.
