Biden staff "miserable," alarmed as pressure builds
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First Lady Jill Biden, President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff view Fourth of July fireworks from the White House balcony Thursday night. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Many White House, Biden campaign and Democratic officials are increasingly worried that President Biden isn't up to continuing his campaign or finishing a second term, despite his insistence that he won't be pushed out.
Why it matters: Outside pressure for Biden to drop his re-election bid grew wider and louder on the Fourth of July, especially from major donors. Doubts also are rising inside the house.
The big picture: "Everyone is miserable, and senior advisers are a total black hole," a White House official told Axios. "Even if you're trying to focus on work, nothing is going to break through or get any acknowledgment" from bosses.
- A high-ranking Democratic National Committee official told Axios: "The only thing that can really allay concerns is for the president to demonstrate that he's capable of running this campaign."
- "Everything else feels like 'Weekend at Bernie's' by his inner circle to prop him up."
Between the lines: Some Biden aides believe those closest to the president have created a cocoon around him that initially seemed earnestly protective, but now appears potentially deceptive in the debate's aftermath.
- They particularly focus on Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini, the first lady's top adviser Anthony Bernal, and longtime aide Ashley Williams, who joined the deputy chief of staff's office when Tomasini ascended to the role earlier this year.
- Those close aides have many duties. But officials recall instances of them helping Biden make up for mental lapses, including prompting him to remember people he has known for a long time.
- Such moments could be dismissed as normal lapses. But many Biden aides now wonder whether they were signs of something deeper.
- One former Biden aide told Axios: "Annie, Ashley and Anthony create a protective bubble around POTUS. He's staffed so closely that he's lost all independence. POTUS relies on staff to nudge him with reminders of who he's meeting, including former staffers and advisers who Biden should easily remember without a reminder from Annie."
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Axios: "These are standard processes for any White House, regardless of president or party. The claims about these individuals — whose professionalism and character are respected across the administration — are inaccurate."
- "This is a team with experience keeping the faith as we helped earn the strongest record in modern history, and our focus is not on anonymous sniping," Bates added.
Driving the news: On Wednesday — six days after the debate — Biden and his senior aides tried to fix the plunging morale among many staffers.
- Some were buoyed by Biden's forceful remarks pledging to stay in the race, and by Chief of Staff Jeff Zients urging them to stay the course and tune out the noise.
- In response to this story, DNC Executive Director Sam Cornale told Axios in a statement: "90 minutes doesn't define a presidency. President Biden has given us 3½ years of extraordinary accomplishments and he made clear to every Democratic staffer who's working to get him re-elected that he's all in for four more."
- Campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz added that "there's an immense sense of pride across our office."
But many staff members working in the White House, the campaign and at the DNC say the efforts to ease the concerns of staffers — and voters — have been insufficient and too late.
- They said Biden's remarks to campaign and DNC officials Wednesday seemed stilted and scripted, raising further questions among staffers who've wondered whether his tight inner circle is being honest about his abilities.
- A campaign official told Axios that the remarks weren't prerecorded.
Zoom in: Other instances of trying to explain away Biden's lapses have gotten renewed scrutiny as potential evidence that top aides were covering up Biden slipping mentally.
- In September 2022 at a speech on food insecurity, Biden tried to give a shout-out to Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), who had worked on the issue — but who had been killed in a car accident weeks earlier.
- Biden had issued a statement of condolences. The White House flew flags at half-staff in honor of her death.
- "Representative — Jackie, are you here? Where's Jackie? I think she wasn't going to be here," Biden said at the event.
Biden's prepared remarks included a note that Walorski had recently passed away and thanked her for her contributions, two people familiar with the speech told Axios.
- Biden didn't remember she had died, and either ignored the Teleprompter or had trouble reading it.
- White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre deflected tough questioning the next day by CNN's Phil Mattingly, CBS's Steven Portnoy and others.
- Jean-Pierre refused to acknowledge Biden made a mistake, and didn't commit to releasing the original version of the remarks.
- She said at the briefing: "I don't think it's all that unusual to have someone top of mind, especially as there's a big event."
- The White House didn't respond to questions about this incident.
