Hopefully, the House Oversight Committee will think to depose Joe Biden's handlers on separate days. If all three aides have to sit down at the same time, it could force a temporary transfer of authority to Kamala Harris.

That assumes, of course, that the three aides named in the subpoenas actually show up for depositions. A week ago, Axios named Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, and Ashley Williams as the aides who have formed a protective bubble around Joe Biden to such an extent that others in the White House warned that Biden had "lost all independence." At the time I urged Congress to start investigating whether Biden was still carrying out his duties independently.

That time has arrived, Axios now reports, but will it work?

The GOP-led House Oversight Committee subpoenaed three senior White House aides Wednesday, demanding they sit for depositions regarding President Biden's health, according to letters obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: The subpoenas signal Republicans' desire to investigate whether some of Biden's closest aides essentially have hidden the 81-year-old president's true condition, in a probe that could drag through the Nov. 5 election.

• Since Biden's weak performance at the June 27 debate ignited questions about his candidacy, some Democrats — including administration officials — have been bracing for potential congressional probes into his mental fitness, and what aides know about it. 

As Axios notes, Comer has tried to get all three deposed before. When classified material showed up at Biden's home and library, Comer issued subpoenas to the trio, but the White House refused to make them available. 

Would this be any different? Almost certainly not. Unfortunately, this lands directly in the circle of executive privilege, and perhaps even hits the bullseye. Executive privilege exists as part of the constitutional separation of powers that allows each branch equal authority. It applies most fully to presidential consultations and advice, and the president gets to choose which advisers he wishes to consult. What Axios reports as Biden's isolation could be also explained as Biden's trust in a small group of aides to do his bidding and inform him of events. That includes Bernal, who technically works for Jill Biden but is hardly restricted from advising the president on that basis.

Unless Congress has evidence of criminal behavior, the White House can easily cite executive privilege to keep these three from getting questioned by the House Oversight Committee. However, Comer could start by encouraging whistleblowers inside the White House to testify as to Biden's alleged isolation and lack of cognitive capacity. If Comer can establish testimony to that effect, he might get a court to agree to pierce executive privilege and force the three to testify.

How long would that take? Long enough to drag this well beyond the election. The time to start looking at this would have been April 2022, when the Easter Bunny ordered Biden to stop talking to reporters:

EASTER BUNNY to Joe: This way... pic.twitter.com/joU3SmdORZ

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 18, 2022

Constitutionally, it's too little too late. Politically? That's another thing entirely. If the White House refuses to cooperate, they will look like they're trying to cover up Biden's condition. If they do cooperate, they'll have to risk perjury prosecution in the next administration if they lie about Biden's capacity. 

The White House will whine bitterly about this being a political hit job, but they have no one but themselves to blame. That's the vise in which Biden has placed himself, and in which Democrats have placed themselves by perpetrating a fraud on voters.