Democrats boycott Republican-led hearing on alleged cover-up of Biden’s mental decline

Senate Democrats staged a near-total boycott of a Republican-led Senate hearing on Wednesday on Joe Biden’s mental decline and its alleged cover-up during his presidency, with only Vermont senator Peter Welch attending the session.

The hearing, titled “Unfit to Serve: How the Biden Cover-Up Endangered America and Undermined the Constitution”, began with Democratic ranking member Dick Durbin launching a counterattack on Donald Trump’s off-kilter comments before walking out of the chamber.

Durbin questioned the focus on Biden’s cognitive abilities while highlighting recent statements by Donald Trump, including his claim after the G7 meeting in Alberta about signing a trade agreement with the EU through Britain – despite the UK leaving the bloc five years ago.

“If we’re going to make a question of cognitive ability, I think we should consider what happened in Alberta, Canada, just this week,” Durbin said, before playing a video compilation of Trump statements including his false claims about migrants “eating the dogs” and “eating the cats” and a hurricane being “one of the wettest we’ve ever seen from the standpoint of water”.

The hearing features three Republican witnesses: former Trump administration officials Theodore Wold and Sean Spicer and legal scholar John Harrison, with testimony focusing on Biden’s alleged use of an autopen device for signatures and media coverage of presidential mental acuity.

Texas Republican co-chair John Cornyn framed the panel as addressing a “constitutional crisis” and alleged cover-up during Biden’s final months in office. He cited the recent book Original Sin by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson, which reported that Biden’s team concealed his declining capabilities.

“We need to know who was in charge during the last months of the Biden administration,” Cornyn said, questioning whether it was the former first lady Jill Biden, Biden’s chief of staff or unnamed others.

Co-chair Eric Schmitt of Missouri described the Democrats’ boycott as a deliberate refusal to confront uncomfortable truths about the former president’s condition.

“This de facto boycott is not just a refusal to participate,” Schmitt said. “It’s a refusal to serve the American people who deserve answers about who was truly leading their government.”

And while the lone Democrat, Welch, agreed there was a constitutional crisis, he aimed it squarely on Republicans by arguing it stemmed from Congress’s broader abdication of its legislative responsibilities rather than any Biden cover-up.

“What has this Senate debated in the months that we’ve been here, other than nominations? Have we discussed the possible war with Iran? Have we had a serious discussion on the floor about the massive mounting debt?” Welch asked.

“I’m going to tell you what I think is a cover-up. I think this ‘big, beautiful bill’, done by reconciliation, whereby the decision of the majority, not a single member of the minority, who represents half of the citizens of this country, can even be in the room when the terms and the policies are being debated, we are not there.”