Biden's former doctor asks to delay testimony to House panel, citing
patient privilege concerns
[July 08, 2025]
By MATT BROWN and MICHELLE L. PRICE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Joe Biden’s physician has asked to
delay his testimony before the House oversight committee this week,
citing the need for an agreement that will respect doctor-patient
confidentiality rules as part of the investigation into Biden's health
in office.
Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who served as Biden’s physician at the White House,
requested a delay until the end of July or early August “to reach an
accommodation that will protect the very substantial privilege and
confidentiality interests of Dr. O’Connor and former President Biden,”
according to a letter from his lawyer sent to Rep. James Comer of
Kentucky on Saturday. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the
letter.
A spokesperson for Oversight Republicans said the committee will follow
the House’s deposition guidelines, which allow for witnesses to assert
privilege on a question-by-question basis, with the committee chair
ruling on each claim. But O'Connor is not allowed, in the committee's
view, to delay or decline a congressional subpoena due to concerns over
questions about potentially privileged information.
The back-and-forth is part of a broader struggle over the scope of the
House Republican inquiry into Biden’s age and mental fitness, with
serious implications for both politics and policy. Republicans have also
claimed that some policies carried out by the White House “autopen” may
be invalid if it is proven that Biden was mentally incapacitated for
some part of his term.
Biden has strongly denied claims that he was not in a right state of
mind at any point while in office, calling the claims "ridiculous and
false.”
The House Oversight Committee first requested O’Connor testify before
the committee last July, but the Biden White House blocked his
testimony. Comer renewed his request in May and later subpoenaed the
doctor in June.
David Schertler, the attorney for O'Connor, in the letter said the
committee is refusing to “accommodate to any degree Dr. O'Connor's
objections” over protecting privilege. He said the committee's decision
was “unprecedented” and “alarming” and warned that it threatened broader
principles around medical privacy.
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 Scherlter said O’Connor could face
“serious consequences" for violating his obligations as a doctor,
including losing his medical license.
In a June subpoena of O’Connor, Comer said that
claims of physician-patient privilege under the American Medical
Association’s code of ethics “lack merit” because that code is not
part of federal law. He said the committee’s subpoena meets the
AMA’s own requirement that physicians must share a patient’s medical
information if “legally compelled to disclose the information” or
“ordered to do so by legally constituted authority.”
Comer has promised that the committee will make all its findings
public in a report after the inquiry has finished. He has subpoenaed
O'Connor and Anthony Bernal, former chief of staff to former first
lady Jill Biden. The committee last month heard voluntary testimony
from Neera Tanden, former director of Biden's domestic policy
counsel.
The committee has also requested the testimony of nearly a dozen
former senior Biden aides, including former White House chiefs of
staff Ron Klain and Jeff Zients; former senior advisers Mike Donilon
and Anita Dunn; former deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed, former
counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti, former deputy chief of
staff Annie Tomasini and a former assistant to the president, Ashley
Williams.
The Trump White House has waived executive privilege, a principle
that protects many communications between the president and staff
from Congress and the courts, for almost 10 senior former Biden
staffers. That move clears the way for those staffers to discuss
their conversations with Biden while he was president.
While the privilege can apply to former staffers, the decision of
whether to waive it is decided by the sitting administration.
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