House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said Thursday afternoon that one of the Biden administration’s most visible spokesmen, Ian Sams, interacted directly with former President Joe Biden only twice during his White House tenure.

Sams, who served as the Biden administration’s lead communicator during House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry, testified in a closed-door interview as part of the committee’s investigation into Biden’s mental decline. Comer told reporters afterward that Sams admitted to only “two in-person meetings, one virtual meeting, and one phone call” with Biden between 2022 and 2024.

“This person, Ian Sams, is the one that would counter everything, Robert Hur, or anytime anyone would suggest that Joe Biden wasn’t mentally fit, he would say, ‘No, he’s at the top of his game,'” Comer said.

Hur, the former special counsel who investigated Biden’s handling of classified documents, described Biden’s memory lapses in a February 2024 report but declined to pursue criminal charges because of them.

Sams testified from 9 a.m. Thursday until just after 12 p.m., at which point he quickly exited without answering any questions from reporters or clarifying Comer’s claims that he only met Biden twice. However, Comer said, “I’ll give Mr. Sams credit; he answered our questions.”

“Robert Hur spent more time with Biden than Sams,” Comer said. “When we would ask, ‘Did Joe Biden tell you this, did Joe Biden send you an email himself?’ Well, no, well, no,” Comer recalled from Sams’s testimony on Thursday.

Sams worked in the White House from May 2022 until August 2024, when he joined then-Vice President Kamala Harris‘s presidential campaign. A veteran Democratic operative, Sams previously served in Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services.

Comer argued Sams’s testimony undercut his public role. Sams often issued statements and posted online in response to the Oversight Committee’s previous investigations into Biden despite not being remotely close to the former president.

The House Oversight Committee’s investigation is also examining whether Biden aides improperly used the presidential autopen to authorize certain executive orders and clemency actions.

BIDEN AUTOPEN USE IN DC WAS MORE WIDESPREAD THAN PREVIOUSLY KNOWN

According to the Oversight Project, a conservative watchdog group that has obtained National Archives records of Biden’s executive orders, the former president used the autopen on at least eight occasions while he was already in Washington, D.C., to sign various executive orders.

At least three additional former officials, including former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, are scheduled to testify in the coming weeks. Comer said he may announce more names of former aides.