On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee released a report detailing its investigation into efforts by top Biden administration aides to coverup former President Joe Biden’s deteriorating mental acuity. The report, titled The Biden Autopen Presidency: Decline, Delusion, and Deception in the White House, can be viewed here.
The Committee also released a video of its July interview with Biden’s top aide Mike Donilon and it was something else.
In the painful to watch clip below, Donilon haltingly admitted that, in addition to his $4 million campaign consulting fee, he would have received a $4 million bonus had Biden won reelection.
A House investigator asked, “Just to be clear, would the amount of pay you received for your role in the campaign, would that have changed depending on how far into the race President Biden made it?”
After a five second silence, Donilon began his fitful response: “Uh. … My, uh, my sense is that, um, that a … the um [six second pause] in my view, that the money was [seven second pause] that the, it was a guarantee from the campaign, that a … we had a negotiation and that’s my memory of the agreement.”
A second investigator asked, “Would you have received a bonus, depending on the way the campaign went. Was that a possibility?”
Again, he hesitated. “Um [seven second pause] how the campaign went.”
She rephrased the question. “Were there any circumstances in which you would have received a bonus?”
“Yes, there was.”
“What were those circumstances?”
Softly, Donilon replies, “Joe Biden would have been reelected president of the United States.”
“What would the bonus have been?”
“I believe it would have been $4 million.”
“In addition to the $4 million that you were already paid?”
“Yes,” he replies.
Following Donilon’s July interview, a person familiar with his testimony told Axios reporter Alex Thompson about the “$8 million potential payday.” But as Thompson noted, “The video of his interview is new and striking.” And he’s right.
According to The New York Times, Donilon’s relationship with Biden dates back to 1981. He has remained one of Biden’s most loyal and trusted confidants for decades. When Biden became vice president in 2009, Donilon became one of his top aides. He was the chief strategist of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and upon his victory became a senior advisor.
Donilon clearly has extensive and valuable experience in politics and has been a great ally to Biden. The fact that he was so lavishly compensated for his services is not the issue.
The point is that a potential $4 million bonus is a powerful incentive to coverup a candidate’s deteriorating cognitive condition just long enough to drag him over the finish line — great for Mike Donilon, but a disaster for America.
Among the blizzard of 2024 election autopsies released this year was 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, published in July by veteran journalists Josh Dawsey (The Wall Street Journal), Tyler Pager (The New York Times), and Isaac Arnsdorf (The Washington Post).
A New York Times book review described an episode that occurred shortly after Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate with then-candidate Donald Trump in which “Democratic aides, desperate to convince Biden to face the music, schemed to have the political talk show host Joe Scarborough deliver the tough love.”
According to the book, “Staffers believed Biden would see the information if it came from ‘Morning Joe.’”
In an interview for the book, Donilon — whom the Times calls “a longtime adviser who is something like Biden’s id” — argued that pushing Biden out of the race “was an act of insanity by the Democratic leadership.”
Especially when a $4 million bonus hangs in the balance.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY