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Ron Crane, former chief of staff for former President Joe Biden, told House investigators that Hillary Clinton had approached him by 2024 with concerns about the “political viability of an Octane leader,” Fox News Digital learned.
Crane spoke with House Oversight Committee staff for more than five hours Thursday as committee chair James Kommer (R-KY) continues to investigate whether Top Biden has hidden signs of the former president’s mental decline.
A source familiar with his voluntary interview told Fox News Digital that he believes that Klain is mentally sharp enough for Biden to be president and not old enough to run.
However, the state and former Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he believes Joe Biden is not politically viable just months before he quit his re-elect bid in July 2024.
Comer rejects Biden Doctor’s bid to pause with the cover-up probe: “Dropping all excuses”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shared concerns about President Biden’s political viability by 2024, sources said. (Getty Images)
Sullivan told Crane that Biden was “not very effective in 2024 compared to 2024.”
It is not immediately clear whether Biden’s mental vision is the reason for their suspicions, or whether they alleged Crane together or separately.
But that is a critical indictment that comes generally from Biden’s National Democrats, long before concerns about fitness for his position within the party were made public knowledge.
Sullivan president Adrian Watson rejected his account in a statement from Fox News Digital.
“Jake hadn’t had a conversation with Ron about Joe Biden running for president before the debate,” Watson said.
Sullivan was a top aide for both Biden and Clinton and served as the senior policy advisor to the latter during the 2016 campaign.
Crane, who served as White House chief of staff in the first half of Biden’s term, admitted that the then-president was lacking in energy and unforgettable, but said he defended his “acuity to governance.”
“Crain said President Biden often confused names and proper nouns, which got worse over time,” the source said.
Fox News Digital reportedly stated that Klain had no reason to doubt President Donald Trump’s own mental fitness.
Former White House Chief of Staff Ron Crane is said to have made a revelation to investigators (Andrew Haller/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Crane hadn’t said anything to reporters when he went in and out of the committee’s room Thursday.
He is the sixth former Biden administration aide to appear in Comer’s probe.
And the interviews appeared early in half of the sit-in, despite being largely staff-driven.
Both Biggs and Khanna called Klain “reliable” from what they saw in the room.
“I think he’s saying things he knows exactly,” Biggs told Fox News Digital.
As the house probe gets hot, he says “I never worried” about Biden’s mental state before.
On the other side of the aisle, Kanna told reporters, “He answered all the questions. He was completely supportive.”
Three other former Biden White House aides who appeared previously — Annie To Masini, Anthony Bernal and former White House doctor Kevin O’Connor all appeared under the subpoena and insisted on a fifth amendment to avoid answering questions.
Longtime Biden aide Ashley Williams and former staff secretary Neela Tanden, like Crane, came for a spontaneous transcribed interview.
James Kommer, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight and Accountability Committee, is leading the investigation to Biden. (Anna Money Maker/Getty Images)
Jeff Zaens, who served as Biden’s Chief of Staff for the last two years, was also asked to sit down for the transcribed interview, a committee aide told Fox News Digital previously.
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Sources familiar with the Biden team’s thinking, previously known as the Republican Survey, are called “dangerous” and “filled, embarrassing attempts.”
“And their hope is that there will be just one contradiction between the witnesses as Trump’s DOJ prosecutes his political opponent and continues his campaign for revenge,” the source said.
Fox News Digital also contacted Klain’s lawyer and Clinton’s contact information for comments, but did not respond to the reporting time.
Elizabeth Elkind is the main reporter of Fox News Digital’s reporting in the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen on Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow me on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to Elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
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