Kevin O’Connor, who served as President Biden’s doctor throughout his time period, requested the Home Oversight Committee Saturday to postpone scheduled testimony over disagreements on the scope of the questions the Republican-led committee can ask him.
O’Connor is scheduled to present a deposition on Wednesday as a part of the committee’s probe into Biden’s psychological acuity and his use of an autopen signing machine. In a letter to Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair of the committee, David Schertler, a lawyer for O’Connor, requested to postpone the testimony to the week of July 28 or August 4.
Within the letter, Schertler raised issues that O’Connor wouldn’t have the ability to shield doctor-patient privilege throughout the testimony, and stated that the committee had declined to rule out any limitations to the scope of the deposition.
“Dr. O’Connor has authorized and moral obligations that he should fulfill and for which violations carry severe penalties to him professionally and personally,” the letter reads. “We’re unaware of any prior event on which a Congressional Committee has subpoenaed a doctor to testify concerning the therapy of a person affected person. And the notion {that a} Congressional Committee would accomplish that with none regard by any means for the confidentiality of the physician-patient relationship is alarming.”
A spokesperson for the committee told NBC Information, which first reported the letter, that O’Connor was trying to “stonewall” the investigation. The spokesperson stated the physician was welcome to claim that solutions to particular person questions had been non-public between the physician and affected person throughout the deposition.
The committee has already interviewed Neera Tanden, the previous director of the White Home Home Coverage Council. Prime Jill Biden aide Anthony Bernal was beforehand scheduled to testify however elected to not present, resulting in a subpoena from the committee.