And another one… pleads the Fifth.
The man former First Lady Jill Biden called her “work husband” was called before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday as part of a probe into the possible cover-up of former President Joe Biden’s declining health, and he decided to follow the lead of White House physician Kevin O’Connor and invoke the Fifth Amendment rather than answer questions on the subject.
On Wednesday’s show, Megyn was joined by National Review’s Rich Lowry to discuss the lack of cooperation and what it could signal about what was going on behind closed doors during the Biden administration.
Bernal Pleads the Fifth
Just a week after O’Connor’s highly anticipated closed-door interview ended before it ever really began after he pleaded the Fifth and cited doctor-patient privilege, Anthony Bernal employed a similar tactic. The former assistant to the president and senior advisor to the first lady was forced to appear before Chairman James Comer’s (R-KY) committee after missing a previously agreed-upon date in June.
Rep. Comer told reporters he only got to ask two questions of Bernal before it became clear he would be uncooperative. They included:
- “Was Joe Biden fit to exercise the duties of the president?”
- “Did any unelected official or family member execute the duties of the presidency?”
Bernal invoked his right against self-incrimination and left without talking to the media. In a statement to the committee, his legal team said any suggestion that taking the Fifth is “evidence of wrongdoing would be highly irresponsible and flatly wrong.”
Comer, however, was not inclined to agree. “It’s no surprise that Anthony Bernal is pleading the Fifth Amendment to shield himself from criminal liability,” he said in a statement. “This is a historic scandal and Americans demand transparency and accountability. We will continue to pursue the truth on their behalf and examine options to get the answers we need.”
While O’Connor and Bernal have chosen to be tight-lipped, former Biden Senior Advisor Neera Tanden and former Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations Ashley Williams have sat for transcribed interviews with the committee without taking the Fifth.
Will He Have to Talk?
Bernal’s brief appearance on Capitol Hill came on the heels of a New York Times report published Sunday in which the former president admitted he did not explicitly sign-off – literally or even figuratively – on every one of the controversial pardons and clemencies granted in the waning days of his term.
Lowry said the behavior of O’Connor and Bernal in light of the Times piece is rightly raising eyebrows. “My assumption was that they just lie or dance around such questions. I never imagined they’d take the Fifth,” he said. “I had a very dim view of how they were handling Biden and thought they were lying all along, but I never would have considered the possibility that someone would have directly told his doctor to lie. And… that non-answer, that invocation of the Fifth, raises a possibility that he was actually told affirmatively to cover it up.”
Ultimately, Megyn believes Bernal and O’Connor are going to be forced to talk one way or another. “They clearly do have something to hide, and I just do not believe they are going to be able to keep it hidden indefinitely,” she explained. “Comer’s enforcement mechanism is to go to the DOJ to have contempt charges brought against them like we saw done to Steve Bannon. And if they don’t comply, they could wind up behind bars like we saw done to Steve Bannon.”
“But I just don’t think Kevin O’Connor is going to sit in a jail cell. I think they’re going to say, ‘You will talk, or you will go to jail. On the other hand, we could offer you immunity, and then you could just give us straightforward answers,'” she added. “It is just a matter of time before we get to this.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Lowry by tuning in to episode 1,109 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.