Ian Sams, who served as spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office from mid-2022 to August 2024, told the House Oversight Committee that he met with President Joe Biden in person only twice during his tenure.
Sams testified that beyond those two encounters, he had just one virtual meeting and a single phone call with Biden over a span of more than two years. His role primarily involved handling press inquiries and issuing statements related to the administration’s legal matters, but his direct contact with the president was limited.
The disclosure has prompted renewed questions among lawmakers about the level of access senior staff had to Biden and how decisions were managed within the White House during his presidency.
The disclosure has fueled questions among lawmakers about how decisions were managed inside the Biden White House and how accessible the president was to senior staff. Republicans on the committee pointed to Sams’s limited contact as evidence of what they describe as Biden’s detachment from the day-to-day operations of his administration. Democrats countered that Sams’s responsibilities did not require regular interaction with the president and argued that his testimony did not indicate any dysfunction.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) told reporters Thursday, “This was a huge interview today, and I think it contradicts everything that the former Biden people are saying with respect to the president’s mental fitness.” Comer went on to call Sams’ testimony “one of the most shocking” interviews the committee has conducted so far.
Sams noted that his office was located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building rather than the West Wing, which meant his communications with the president typically went through senior aides such as adviser Anita Dunn or the White House counsel. He acknowledged that he was not always informed in advance of major presidential decisions, including the controversial pardon of Hunter Biden and clemency extended to other family members who had not been indicted.
“In fact, [former special counsel] Robert Hur spent more time with Joe Biden than Ian Sams,” Comer said, pointing to the prosecutor’s two-day interview with the president during the classified documents probe into whether Biden “willfully” kept sensitive records.
“It raises serious concerns and serious questions about who was calling shots at the White House,” Comer argued. “If the White House spokesperson was being shielded from the president of the United States, who was operating the Oval Office?”
