by JD Rucker, Discern Report:
(The Center Square)–As key witnesses in the investigation into former President Joe Biden’s mental decline continue to evade U.S. House questioning by invoking their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, lawmakers could grant them immunity to encourage them to talk, according to a legal expert.
Three witnesses close to the former president pleaded the fifth during depositions before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in less than two weeks, with more likely to come.
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Committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said the witnesses, Annie Tomasini, who served as an assistant to the former president and deputy director of Oval Office Operations, former First Lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff, Anthony Bernal, and Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician, have pleaded the Fifth in “a pattern…seeking to shield themselves from criminal liability.”
Attorney and legal scholar John Shu notes that the committee could grant certain congressional witnesses immunity, a common tactic that would require them to testify because they no longer could self-incriminate and be subject to prosecution.
“Both the DOJ and Congress have been known to grant immunity. It would prevent witnesses from asserting the Fifth Amendment, because once you have immunity you can’t be prosecuted,” Shu said.
None of the witnesses, including those who have yet to appear, have been charged with any crime. However, echoing Comer’s assertion that the witnesses may be shielding themselves from criminal liability, Shu argues they could be pleading the fifth to avoid self-incrimination.
