Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is expected to sit down with House Oversight Committee investigators behind closed doors in September, Fox News Digital has learned.

A House Oversight Committee aide told Fox News Digital that she’s one of four high-profile former Biden officials who have scheduled interviews with the panel.

Also expected to appear in the coming weeks are Ian Sams, former special assistant to the president and senior advisor in the White House Counsel’s Office; Andrew Bates, former deputy assistant to the president and senior deputy press secretary; and Jeff Zients, former White House chief of staff, the aide said. 

Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is investigating allegations that Biden’s former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether any executive actions were commissioned via autopen without the president’s full knowledge. Biden allies have pushed back against those claims.

In an interview with The New York Times on Thursday, Biden affirmed he ‘made every decision’ on his own.

All four new witnesses are scheduled to appear for voluntary transcribed interviews, the Oversight aide said.

Jean-Pierre is expected on Sept. 12, Sams on Aug. 21, Bates on Sept. 5, and Zeints on Sept. 18, Fox News Digital was told.

With Zeints’ appearance, both former Biden chiefs of staff will have met with House investigators.

Ronald Klain, who led Biden’s White House staff during the earlier part of his term, is due to sit down for a voluntary transcribed interview later this month.

Comer has so far spoken with four ex-Biden aides, including two under subpoena – ex-White House physician Kevin O’Connor and Anthony Bernal, a longtime aide to ex-first lady Jill Biden.

Both Bernal and O’Connor pleaded the Fifth Amendment but denied it was an admission of guilt.

Former deputy White House chief of staff Annie Tomasini was initially expected to appear for a transcribed interview on Friday but was subpoenaed earlier this week at her counsel’s request.

The interviews and depositions are largely expected to be staff-led, with the exception of appearances by Comer and occasionally other members of the House Oversight Committee.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, has made surprise appearances at each of the last three sit-downs.

Meanwhile, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., publicly called for Comer to subpoena Jill Biden after Bernal’s deposition on Wednesday.

A source familiar with the Biden team’s thinking called Republicans’ probe ‘dangerous’ and ‘an attempt to smear and embarrass.’

‘And their hope is for just one tiny inconsistency between witnesses to appear so that Trump’s DOJ prosecute his political opponents and continue his campaign of revenge,’ the source said.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee stormed out of an executive committee meeting Thursday moments before the panel voted to advance President Donald Trump’s judicial nominee, Emil Bove, to the full Senate floor for a vote.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., urged Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, before the vote to allow them to consider the allegations against Bove made by a former Justice Department attorney, Erez Reuveni, in a whistleblower report.

Booker invoked Rule 4 of the committee rules in trying to push for additional debate time, which Grassley declined to acknowledge before ordering the vote — prompting the Democrat members of the panel to abruptly exit the hearing room.

Shortly before walking out, Booker took aim at Grassley. ‘What are you afraid of?’ he erupted, after Grassley tried to speak over him and hold the vote. ‘Debating this [nomination], putting things on the record — Dear God,’ he said, ‘that’s what we are here for.’

‘This lacks decency, this lacks decorum, it shows that you will not hear from your colleagues,’ Booker said to Grassley in another attempt. ‘You are a decent man,’ he said, imploring him to allow a small window of additional time for the panel to debate before pushing through with the committee vote. 

‘Why are you doing this?’ Booker pressed again. 

 ‘What are they saying to you,’ he said, referring to the Trump administration, ‘that is making you do something to violate the decorum, the decency and the respect of this committee to at least hear each other out?’ 

The nearly hour-long debate held prior to Bove’s confirmation vote was unsuccessful, and Trump’s nominee cleared the committee in a party-line vote.

Still, there were sharp objections made by other Democrats on the panel, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-NY, who joined Booker in upbraiding their Republican colleagues on the panel for what they described as a lack of candor and their refusal to consider the allegations made by Reuveni. 

They also noted the dozens of former federal and state judges, and hundreds of former federal prosecutors, who had the panel to reject Bove’s nomination to a lifetime appointment on the federal bench.

Whitehouse, for his part, invoked Shakespeare: ‘There’s something rotten in Denmark,’ he said in voicing his opposition to the decision to push through with the confirmation vote. 

Booker ended the sharp exchange with Grassley by saying simply, ‘This is wrong, sir, and I join with my colleagues in leaving,’ before streaming out of the committe room.

Trump announced earlier this year the nomination of senior Justice Department official and his former defense attorney, Emil Bove, to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Bove’s nomination immediately sparked intense pushback and opposition from some lawmakers, and from the former prosecutors and judges. 

It comes as Trump administration officials have taken aim at the so-called ‘activist’ judges they argue are blocking the president’s agenda and preventing him from enacting his sweeping policy goals, including the administration’s crackdown on border security and immigration.

Bove’s path to confirmation in the full Senate chamber remains rocky, and comes amid mounting concerns over the allegations made in the whistleblower report.

Speaking to reporters after leaving the committee room on Thursday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, described the decision by Republicans to push through with the vote without considering the whistleblower allegations in a separate hearing, and despite the state objections of Democrats on the panel as a ‘blatant violation of the rules of committee.’

‘I haven’t seen anything like it in 15 years in the U.S. Senate,’ he told reporters. ‘Just overriding, roughshod, the rules of the committee to silence members [on concerns involving] the nominees for lifetime appointments’ on the federal bench, he said. 

‘We can disagree about whether they should be on the court, but not about the rules that put them there.’ 

A bipartisan House duo is teaming up for a resolution to urge elected leaders in the U.S. to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada.’

The legislation, being led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Rudy Yakym, R-Ind., would condemn the phrase ‘as a call to violence against Israeli and Jewish people across the world.’

‘Globalize the intifada,’ as a call, has been a subject of national controversy since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack by Hamas in southern Israel, though it sparked new tension in recent weeks with New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s refusal to publicly condemn it. He reportedly recently distanced himself from the slogan during a private meeting, however.

While the bipartisan legislation does not expressly mention Mamdani, the four-page bill is notably being released a day after his trip to meet with national Democrats in Washington, D.C.

‘Condemning it should be common sense, but some would rather play politics than tell the truth. The violence and hatred directed at Jewish and Israeli people is reprehensible,’ Yakym told Fox News Digital. ‘No one, especially in America, should have to live in fear for their safety, or even their life, because of their religion or ethnicity.’

Gottheimer, who is Jewish, said, ”The Intifada’ refers to a horrific wave of terror attacks that killed thousands of Jews. Globalizing it is a direct call for violence against Jews, and it must be condemned.’

‘I’m against hate speech targeting anyone — and everyone should be. It’s insane and unacceptable to me that this antisemitic rhetoric is spreading rampant across our country,’ he said.

A moderate Democrat who helps lead the Problem Solvers Caucus, Gottheimer was one of the Democrats present at Mamdani’s breakfast event with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Wednesday.

Their legislation cites several instances of violence against Jews in recent months, including the attack on pro-Israel demonstrators in Colorado, the fatal shooting of a pair of Israeli embassy staffers in D.C., and arson at the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family were holding a Passover seder.

If passed in the House, the resolution would affirm that lawmakers believe ‘globalize the intifada’ is a ‘call for violence against Israeli and Jewish people across the world’ that ‘undermines the safety and security of Israeli and Jewish people in their communities.’

It would also declare that ‘those truly committed to Middle East peace should refrain from affirming, chanting, or displaying the slogan’ and ‘the slogan must be strongly and unequivocally condemned by national, State, and local leaders.’

‘Globalize the intifada’ has become a well-worn refrain at pro-Palestine demonstrations across the U.S., in response to Israel’s invasion of Gaza following the Hamas attack.

Others have warned, however, that it’s part of an increasingly alarming trend of antisemitic rhetoric that’s broken out in the U.S. since the war between Israel and Hamas began.

Mamdani, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist who won the Democratic primary in the New York City mayoral race, has been slammed by his critics for refusing to condemn calls to ‘globalize the intifada.’

He is not being accused of using the phrase himself, however.

The New York Times reported that Mamdani said in a Tuesday meeting with business leaders that he would ‘discourage’ the use of the phrase.

Like many on the progressive left, he’s a fierce critic of Israel’s military operation in Gaza.

Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

Though Senate Republicans were successful in their mission to pass President Donald Trump’s clawback package, not every member of the conference was on board.

Only two Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, joined with every Senate Democrat to vote against the $9 billion package geared toward clawing back foreign aid and public broadcasting funding.

Senate Republican leaders had hoped that stripping $400 million in cuts to Bush-era international AIDS and HIV prevention funding could win over all the holdouts, both public and private. But the lawmakers who voted against the bill had deeper concerns about the level of transparency during the process and the impact successful rescissions could have on Congress’ power of the purse.  

Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she agreed with rescissions in general and supports them during the appropriations process, but couldn’t get behind the White House’s push because of a lack of clarity from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) about exactly what would be cut and how.

She said that ‘the sparse text’ sent to lawmakers included little detail and did not give a specific accounting of programs that would be cut to hit the original $9.4 billion target.

‘For example, there are $2.5 billion in cuts to the Development Assistance account, which covers everything from basic education, to water and sanitation, to food security — but we don’t know how those programs will be affected,’ she said.

Murkowski demanded a return to legislating and appeared to warn that lawmakers were just taking marching orders from the White House rather than doing their own work. 

Both Murkowski and Collins were also concerned about the cuts to public broadcasting, particularly to rural radio stations. Both attempted to make changes to the bill during the vote-a-rama. Collins’ ultimately decided not to bring her amendment, which would have reduced the total amount of cuts in the bill to north of $6 billion, to the floor. However, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., still brought the change for a vote. And Murkowski offered an amendment that would have drastically reduced the cuts to public broadcasting. 

The climactic vote for the bill came hours after tsunami warnings rippled through Alaska, and Murkowski argued that federal warnings were relayed through local public broadcasting. 

‘The tsunami warnings are now thankfully canceled, but the warning to the U.S. Senate remains in effect,’ she said. ‘Today of all days, we should vote down these misguided cuts to public broadcasting.’

Still, both attempts to modify the bill failed to pass muster. 

Their decision to go against the package left some scratching their heads. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., argued that the cuts amounted to less than a tenth of a percent of the federal government’s entire budget.

‘This should be a chip shot, OK? I have faith in [OMB Director] Russ Vought,’ he said. ‘I have faith in the Trump administration. They’re not going to cut things that are important spending.’

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., who is leading the bill in the Senate, rebuked the duo’s arguments and said that lawmakers weighing in on the rescissions package was in line with their legislative duties.

‘That’s exactly what we’re doing,’ the Missouri Republican said. ‘I would hope that maybe what this will also do is highlight some of the wasteful spending, so when we get into the appropriations process in the next few months that we would be more keen to be focused on saving people money.’

Trump’s bill, which would cancel unspent congressionally approved funding, would slash just shy of $8 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the government-backed funding arm for NPR and PBS.

Some lawmakers, like Sen. Thom Tillis, who earlier this month voted against Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ over cuts to Medicaid funding, understood where the pair were coming from.

The North Carolina Republican told Fox News Digital that Collins, in particular, would be leading negotiations for an end-of-year bipartisan funding deal with Senate Democrats, and to vote in favor of canceling congressionally approved funding could hurt her ability to find a solution to keep the government funded.

‘I don’t think people really understand the value of your word and your consistency and your living up to commitments and how important that is to getting things done,’ Tillis said. ‘And this, I think, that’s what Susan’s looking at, I think Murkowski is as well, and I respect them for that.’

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow should consider launching ‘preemptive strikes’ against the West as the U.S. and its NATO allies ratchet up defensive support for Ukraine.

‘The statements of Western politicians on this topic are complete nonsense,’ Medvedev, deputy chair of Russia’s security council, said in an interview with state media outlet Tass, according to Reuters reporting. 

‘We need to act accordingly. To respond in full. And if necessary, launch preemptive strikes,’ he added. 

Medvedev’s comments come just two days after President Donald Trump announced secondary tariffs on Moscow by slapping 100% tariffs on nations that purchase Russian oil if the Kremlin does not enter into a peace agreement with Ukraine within the next 50 days. 

Reports also surfaced this week claiming that Trump had mulled the possibility of Ukraine hitting the Russian capital while in a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this month. Kyiv would not comment on the issue and the White House said the question was taken ‘out of context’ and was not an attempt at ‘encouraging further killing.’

Trump this week said the U.S. would be sending Patriot missiles to NATO nations that would then be routed to Ukraine, and on Wednesday he suggested the sophisticated weaponry was already en route to Germany.

‘They’re already being shipped,’ Trump told reporters from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. ‘They’re coming in from Germany and then replaced by Germany. And in all cases, the United States gets paid back in full.’

But the timing of the weapons delivery systems and where exactly they are being routed to remains unclear as a spokesman for Germany’s defense ministry on Thursday told reporters he had no knowledge of such an incoming shipment. 

‘I cannot confirm that anything is currently on the way. That is not known to me,’ the spokesman reportedly told Swiss broadcasting outlet SRF, before noting that a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) will be held on Monday, when delivery specifications of U.S. Patriot systems will be hashed out. 

But the quick delivery of the U.S. missile systems appears to be a top priority for Washington and NATO as Switzerland, which is not a NATO nation, also announced on Thursday that its anticipated receipt of five Patriot batteries, purchased from the U.S. in 2022 with a pledged delivery date to begin in 2026, had been delayed. 

‘The United States Department of Defense has informed the (Swiss Defense Ministry) that it will reprioritize the delivery of Patriot systems to support Ukraine, focusing on ground-based air defense,’ the ministry said in a statement.

‘No statement can be made at this stage regarding the exact timing and any further implications for Switzerland,’ the ministry added. ‘Clarifications are ongoing.’

Medvedev on Thursday said the action by NATO amounted to a full-blown war against Russia by the West.

‘What is happening today is a proxy war, but in essence it is a full-scale war (launches of Western missiles, satellite intelligence, etc.), sanctions packages, loud statements about the militarization of Europe,’ he told the Russian media outlet. 

Though the push to send Patriot systems and threats to sanction Moscow are significant as it is the first time since Trump entered office that he has looked to start actively countering Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort, not everyone is convinced it is strong enough. 

EU leaders earlier in the week commented on the length of time the president allotted for Putin despite months of diplomacy failing to yield real action on the battlefield. 

And Zelenskyy noted that 50 days of waiting means another 50 days of death for Ukrainian citizens. 

‘Fifty days, for us, is just – every day is scary,’ Zelenskyy said in an interview with the New York Post released on Thursday.

‘Putin has wasted President Trump’s time,’ he added. ‘I would very much like to see the United States, the Congress and the president put some pressure on this situation with sanctions and so the sooner, the faster it can be done, the better.’

‘We would certainly like to speed up this process,’ Zelenskyy added. ‘We, for our part, will work to provide more information [to Trump], more arguments for strong sanctions against Russia.’

Fox News Digital could not immediately reach the Pentagon or Germany’s Defense Ministry for comment.