Democrats are refusing to participate in the first congressional hearing focusing on allegations of former President Joe Biden’s mental decline while in the White House.
Only Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) attended the kickoff of the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Wednesday morning, with Durbin, the ranking member, immediately walking out after calling the event a distraction from the real issues in the panel’s purview — such as President Donald Trump’s deployment of the military to respond to immigration protests in Los Angeles.
Durbin also accused Republicans on the panel of being “asleep at the wheel,” regarding their responsibilities of oversight of the current administration.
“The Republican majority on this committee has not held a single oversight hearing despite numerous critical challenges facing the nation that are under our jurisdiction,” Durbin said, naming as recent examples the past weekend’s assassination of a state lawmaker in Minnesota and last week’s handcuffing of Sen. Alex Padilla at a DHS press conference. Padilla, a California Democrat, is a member of the Judiciary Committee.
“Apparently, armchair diagnosing former President Biden is more important than the issues of grave concern, which I have mentioned,” Durbin said.
Welch left the hearing room after declaring that the proceedings had no benefit for his constituents.
The hearing, which includes testimony from former Trump administration officials like ex-press secretary Sean Spicer, underscores how Republicans in Congress are intent to continue the drumbeat of attacks on the former president, even after he has largely exited public life. Across the Capitol, House Oversight Chair James Comer has launched his own probe into Biden whether Biden was mentally fit to lead the nation’s highest office, with interviews lined up with a number of senior Biden White House officials to gather evidence.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is co-chairing the hearing alongside Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), accused those in Biden’s inner circle of letting “their self-interest and their fear of another Trump term justify an attempt to put an at-times addled old man in the Oval Office for four more years.” He shared clips from the 2024 debate between President Donald Trump and Biden, which kicked off the widespread calls for Biden to end his bid for reelection.
Cornyn is also facing a tough primary battle in Texas, where he is up for reelection in 2026. State Attorney General Ken Paxton has already announced his intention to unseat Cornyn, and the race is likely to serve as a test of the candidates’ MAGA credentials.
The 91-year-old Judiciary panel chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, opened the hearing by decrying what he called a “rudderless” former administration.
