A member of former President Joe Biden’s inner circle sat with House Oversight Committee investigators for a marathon closed-door interview that lasted more than eight hours on Wednesday.
Steve Ricchetti, who served as counselor to the president for all four years of Biden’s term, was described as ‘combative and defensive’ during his voluntary meeting, a source familiar with the sitdown told Fox News Digital.
The source described Ricchetti as defiant in the face of doubts about Biden’s mental acuity, though he ‘admitted that they all knew President Biden’s age was an issue and were dealing with it as a political matter,’ they said.
‘Mr. Ricchetti stated that he believed President Biden had the ability to be president and that he was performing the capacity of president every day. He believes that Joe Biden is capable to being president today, and that he could have won in 2024,’ the source told Fox News Digital.
Ricchetti, a longtime Democratic operative and lobbyist, first began working for Biden in March 2012 when he was appointed counselor to the vice president under former President Barack Obama. He was elevated to be Biden’s chief of staff in December 2013.
He touted his closeness to Biden over the last 13 years, the source said, and described having personal relationships with former first lady Jill Biden and Hunter Biden as well.
Ricchetti’s own children were also close to the White House during Biden’s tenure – at least three of them had jobs in the Democratic administration at some point.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is investigating whether Biden’s top White House aides concealed signs of mental decline in the president, and if that meant executive actions were signed via autopen without his knowledge.
Ricchetti is the seventh ex-Biden aide to come in, but just the fourth to appear on voluntary terms. Former White House doctor Kevin O’Connor and former White House aides Annie Tomasini and Anthony Bernal all pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions.
Ricchetti told investigators that he was not involved in O’Connor’s physical evaluation letters for Biden, ‘but he did have conversations with senior staff on how to communicate and present President Biden’s physical evaluation letters,’ the source told Fox News Digital.
He also defended Biden’s frequent gaffes, describing them as ‘common mistakes’ that anyone could make, the source said.
‘He said the frequency of these mistakes have not increased since Joe Biden was vice president,’ the source said.
The majority of questioning during the eight-hour session came from Republicans – the source said Democrats frequently attempted to change the topic to discuss President Donald Trump.
Ricchetti said nothing to reporters when leaving the meeting on Wednesday evening.
No lawmakers were present for the sitdown, as is usually the case with such transcribed interviews.
Fox News Digital reached out to Ricchetti’s attorney for comment but did not hear back by press time.