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Ashley Williams, a longtime ally of former President Joe Biden, met with House investigators behind closed doors for nearly six hours Friday as Republicans probe allegations the Democrat’s top aides hid his mental decline.
A source familiar with the transcribed interview told Fox News Digital Williams said she did not “recall” various things “an untold number of times.”
“Examples include she could not recall if she spoke with President Biden in the last week, if teleprompters were used for Cabinet meetings, if there were discussions about President Biden using a wheelchair, if there were discussions about a cognitive test, if she discussed a mental or physical decline of President Biden, if she ever had to wake President Biden up and how she got involved with his 2020 campaign,” the source said.
Williams told House investigators Biden is fit to be president today, the source said.
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Former President Joe Biden’s mental acuity is in the House GOP spotlight (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
In addition to whether senior aides covered up Biden’s alleged decline, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is looking into whether any presidential orders were signed via autopen without the former commander in chief’s knowledge.
Any allegations of wrongdoing so far have been denied by the ex-president’s allies.
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But Republican investigators have pointed to Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate and subsequent revelations in the media that there were more concerns from Biden’s inner circle about his fitness for office than previously known.
Williams, however, argued he was in command of himself during that debate, the source said.
The former White House aide said nothing to reporters when entering or leaving the committee meeting room for her voluntary interview.
Fox News Digital reached out to Williams’ lawyers for their account of events inside the room.
It was a staff-led meeting, but Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, briefly stopped in for just under 30 minutes to show “solidarity” with the witness, the progressive told reporters afterward.
Ashley Williams, former deputy director of White House Oval Office operations, met with investigators Friday. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I do think that it is important that I show up because if they are going to make allegations about the former commander in chief, egregious allegations they continue to wage, I want to make sure that I’m in the room to correct the record because a lot of times they like to mischaracterize things,” she said.
When asked by Fox News Digital if the interview was still ongoing as she exited, Crockett answered, “It’s still going. I’m leaving early. I’ve got to get to another thing.”
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The source who spoke with Fox News Digital said Crockett had come in during the GOP’s questioning session and did not ask any questions herself. Fox News Digital reached out to her office for a response.
Williams is a longtime Biden ally whose time with the Democrat goes back to assisting second lady Jill Biden during the Obama administration, according to a 2019 profile of Biden staffers.
Williams later worked for Biden’s 2020 campaign and presidential transition team. She served as his trip director before being hired by the White House as deputy director of Oval Office operations and a special assistant to the president.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, made a surprise appearance at the meeting. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Williams ended her White House tenure as deputy assistant to the president, senior advisor to the president and director of strategic outreach, according to her LinkedIn page.
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Notably, the social media page also says Williams still works for the ex-leader as senior advisor in the Office of Former President Joe Biden.
She was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee last year during Republicans’ investigation into Biden’s cognitive health, but GOP investigators say the former White House blocked her from giving any information.
The Democratic staffer is the third person to appear before committee investigators in recent weeks.
Former Biden White House physician Kevin O’Connor appeared for a sworn deposition Wednesday after being subpoenaed by Comer.
