Hawley Slams Dems For Boycotting Hearing On Biden's Mental Acuity, Demands Answers Into Autopen Use

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks to all the witnesses for being here. You know, the visual, sometimes it really is true, a picture speaks louder than words. It's worth a thousand words. And here, all you have to do is look over at this side of the dais to see that the stone wall continues. I mean, from the party that lied to this nation for four years. Let's just take a look at some of the things that our colleagues said on the Democrat side when their own Justice Department was concluding that Joe Biden, who let's not forget, illegally took classified documents, illegally took classified documents and kept them in his garage, in his freezer. I mean, Lord knows where, he just certainly didn't know. Their own Justice Department interviewed the guy and concluded he could not form the requisite mental state to stand trial. He did not have the mental ability to stand trial. And what did our Democrat colleagues say? Vice President Harris says, oh, no, no, the way that the H.E.R. report characterized the president is so wrong. The president's demeanor is totally fine. Senator Smith, what the H.E.R. said about the president not remembering his son's death, so unfair. Senator Kaine said this is grandstanding. Senator Fetterman said it's just cheap shots. You had other senators saying, Senator Ossoff, in February of 2024, 2024, saying, and I quote, I found the president to be sharp, focused, impressive, formidable and effective. In June 2024, Congressman Jeffries insists Biden was, and I'm quoting again, incredibly strong, forceful and decisive. Where are they now? They don't want to answer for any of those quotes now. They lied to us for four years and we know they lied. They know they lied. It's why they're not here. They don't want to answer a single question. They can't bear to show their faces in public. And you know what? It's right that they can't do that because the bill of goods they sold this country, they walked this country right into one of the greatest constitutional crises of our history, of our history. And now they are afraid to even show up to admit it. These are people, and this is a party that cannot be trusted with power, that cannot be trusted to tell the truth, the most basic truth. They all changed their tunes after Joe Biden debated President Trump and the whole world could see he couldn't even form a sentence. That running this guy for president again is a form of elder abuse. My, how they changed their tunes after that. Now they can't even show up in public to talk about it. This is embarrassing. But worse than that, it's dangerous. It is dangerous for this country. Mr. Wold, I want to pick on something you just said a second ago about the OLC and their opinion as to when an auto pen can be used. To be clear about this, auto pen means not signed by the person. Auto pen is basically push of a button and it gets signed. OLC says only when the president specifically directs it and it is under his direct authority. Do I basically have that right? That's correct, Senator. So based on the facts we know, did that happen in this case with all of the pardons and clemencies and other giveaways that Joe Biden signed? Assuming that the Biden White House complied with sort of traditional practice of presidential administrations and that there was record keeping either from the staff secretary or others, there should be records to indicate either through covering memorandum or briefing books where the president would have signed his signature authorizing this decision. None of that has come forward. That would be very easy to dispel some of these concerns. And I think what we're seeing here is really the auto pen is best understood as a sort of a tool of executive convenience. Hold on a second. I want to, I want to, I would just want to, you just said something very important. I want to emphasize that. So what you're saying is, is that there should be for every time that Biden authorized the auto pen, there should be a record of that. And he should have had to have registered his personal consent to using the auto pen. Is that basically correct? I think, I think to, to put it, uh, to put it another way, I would say in, in the pro the policy paper flow to the oval office, there should be a record of what documents are presented to the president when, and when he gave his assent to the actions that are listed in those documents, whether it's a judicial nomination or it's a statutory response to Congress. Well, I think the answer is we need to get those documents. And I just say to the, to our friends in the media over here, you guys need to be asking for those documents and we need to be asking for them. Mr. Chairman, we need to see those documents and the president, the former president now can certainly choose to release them. I'm sure they're part of his personal papers, right? And that's correct. And the first place to start would be the staff secretary's office under president Biden. Oh, this is, so here's, here's the trail. If you want to know, if you want an answer to the question, did Joe Biden actually assent to the use of the auto pen and all you think of all the people he pardoned, he granted clemency to murderers, drug dealers, child rapists. Let's find out, did he actually authorize it? There should be a record of it is what we've learned today. Thank you for that testimony, Mr. Wold. There should be a record of it. This is a binary question. It's not, Oh, we don't know. Gee, it's hard to say. No, actually we can find out. So I right now today, I call on president Biden, former president Biden and his staff released the documents. You have them, you know, you have them release them. If you're, if what you did is legal and if you're really not embarrassed about it and you think it was totally constitutional, release the paper flow, show us the documents where the president authorized the use of the pen for every single pardon and clemency and stay application. Let's see it. Let's see all of it. And if you won't do it, we should subpoena those documents and we should find out the truth of who was really running the white house because I think we can see it was not Joe Biden. Thank you all for being here today, Mr. Wold. Thanks for your testimony.