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Annie Tomasini, former assistant to President Joe Biden and former deputy chief of staff, is the latest Biden aide subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee, as Republicans investigate the alleged cover-up of the former president’s cognitive decline and the potentially unauthorized use of the autopen for pardons and executive actions.
Tomasini’s counsel requested that House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., issue a subpoena for her scheduled appearance before the staff-led hearing this Friday.
Her former colleague, Anthony Bernal, the former chief of staff to former first lady Jill Biden, was hit with his own subpoena for a closed-door deposition on Wednesday after skipping his scheduled interview when the White House waived executive privilege.
Bernal’s scheduled sit-down came and went quickly, however. Bernal apparently pleaded the Fifth Amendment to the questions asked by House staffers, a source familiar told Fox News Digital.
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CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson revealed in their book, “Original Sin,” that Tomasini and Bernal “loaded a written Q&A into a prompter ahead of a local interview – a document that the campaign had used in prep with Biden.”
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Tomasini and Bernal brought out the teleprompter as his aides were trying to soften his blunders as Biden struggled to stay on message, according to the book. But the teleprompter fiasco became an easy attack line throughout Biden’s re-election campaign, as President Donald Trump “weaved” through his myriad unscripted moments.
The book described how Tomasini and Bernal grew closer to Biden during the pandemic, eventually becoming Joe and Jill Biden’s most trusted aides.
Tapper and Thompson describe the “intensely loyal” duo – Tomasini and Bernal – as taking on an “older-brother-and-little-sister vibe” among Biden’s inner circle.
Bernal and Tomasini later took on some of the residence staffers’ roles in the White House. Tapper and Thompson said the aides “had all-time access to the living quarters, with their White House badges reading ‘Res’ – uncommon for such aides.”
“The significance of Bernal and Tomasini is the degree to which their rise in the Biden White House signaled the success of people whose allegiance was to the Biden family – not to the presidency, not to the American people, not to the country, but to the Biden theology,” the authors wrote.
Fox News Digital reported in 2023 that Tomasini was among nearly a dozen Biden aides and Cabinet members to have extensive ties to Hunter Biden, who was accused by Republicans of selling access to his father, dating back over a decade.
The analysis revealed the extent of Hunter’s potential reach in the White House ahead of the embattled first son’s felony gun charges and subsequent pardon by his father in the final days of Biden’s presidency.
Tomasini was in frequent communication with Hunter, referred to him as her “brother” and often ended her emails with “LY” for “love you,” according to emails dating from 2010 to 2016.
Then-vice president Biden publicly announced on Dec. 20, 2010, that Tomasini was stepping down to take a position with Harvard University, and Tomasini kept Hunter clued in on the details of that position before she took it, according to emails. The month prior, on Nov. 19, 2010, she forwarded information to Hunter about Harvard’s employee benefits and added, “Thanks.”
“Hey – I looked at benefits And they look pretty amazing. Any word on comp?” Hunter responded on Nov. 23, 2010.
“I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for looking at all the background Hunt,” Tomasini replied.
Tomasini was offered the job on Nov. 30, 2010, writing to Hunter, “Director of intergovernmental relations. > 120k ish – may be a little higher.”
She later thanked him and said she was going to tell his father the news. Months later, Hunter gave a speech at Harvard, but not before running the draft by Tomasini first.
A source familiar with the Biden team’s thinking told Fox News Digital that Trump would stop at nothing to exact retribution, calling the investigations into Biden’s autopen use conspiratorial claims that attempt to slander a political opponent and undo valid presidential actions.
“As an extension of this political gamesmanship, Congressional Republicans are following their leader and following suit by dragging public servants up to the Hill,” the source said, calling the “dangerous” probe an “attempt to smear and embarrass” and a “partisan, coordinated effort.”
They said Trump’s Department of Justice is “not normal” and “these times are not normal,” so this investigation will “be no different.”
Fox News’ Greg Wehner, Jessica Chasmar, Cameron Cawthorne and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
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