House report reveals post-debate turmoil on Biden's team
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Photo: Cover image of report by House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
After Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance last year his team fell into a civil war, with longtime aides insisting he was fine and others — including his chief of staff and Cabinet members — saying he should consider exiting the presidential race, a new report by a GOP-led House panel says.
Why it matters: The report, released Tuesday, is the first time most of Biden's top aides have gone on the record to respond to questions about the former president's declining health, and what aides did to obscure it from the public.
- It's the result of the House Oversight panel interviewing members of Biden's inner circle over the past several months.
- Three of Biden's closest aides pleaded the Fifth Amendment rather than answer the committee's questions.
Driving the news: Former Biden Chief of Staff Jeff Zients told the panel that he, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and VA Secretary Denis McDonough all expressed concern about Biden continuing his reelection campaign after the debate, the report says.
- Zients told the lawmakers that "within a few days after the debate, [Biden] was aware of my view that I thought it was prudent to consider getting out of the race."
- Zients also said that after the debate he urged Biden's doctor, Kevin O'Connor, to do a "full work-up" of medical tests on the president.
Other top Biden aides, however, told the committee that concerns about Biden's health after the debate were overblown and media-driven.
- Asked if he understood that some voters watching the debate felt that Biden was struggling cognitively, top aide Steve Ricchetti said: "It isn't how the country perceived it. That just isn't true."
- He blamed the "chattering class" for overreacting and said it was "a cheap shot" to "point out two things the president did wrong" in the debate, such Biden's halting answer that ended in, "We finally beat Medicare."
Top Biden aide Mike Donilon told the panel he thought Biden "had pretty good answers. Stylistically, I was worried about his voice."
- Donilon added that he didn't believe the debate "produced a substantial change in the horse race."
- And Biden's top policy adviser Bruce Reed attributed part of Biden's performance to the former president's childhood stutter, and said of Biden's "Medicare" answer: "We all knew he was trying to say, 'We finally beat big pharma.' "
- In the weeks after the debate, Biden's inner circle would shrink, as skeptics were pushed out.
Reality check: The committee's report was issued only by its Republican-led majority, and includes cherry-picked parts of testimony by Biden's inner circle.
- Full transcripts of the interviews are expected to be released later.
What they're saying: The GOP-led committee titled the report: "The Biden Autopen Presidency Decline, Delusion, and Deception in the White House."
- The Republican majority argued that "the Biden Autopen Presidency ranks among the greatest scandals in U.S. history," and urged the Trump Justice Department to investigate.
- The GOP members also sent a letter to the D.C. Board of Medicine, asking it to look into potential wrongdoing by O'Connor while serving as Biden's doctor.
Zoom in: Zients discussed how Biden's age affected some inner workings in the White House over time, such as needing extra meetings to reach a decision.
- He also said Biden's longtime trouble with names and dates got worse with age.
- "It's never been an area of strength for [Biden], but I think it [has] probably gotten more difficult across time," Zients said, according to the report.
Zients also recalled that First Lady Jill Biden and Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini were heavily involved in managing Biden's schedule, pushing for him to get more rest.
- Jill Biden "want[ed] to continue to make sure the president had enough time to himself, that he's not overscheduled," Zients told the panel, according to the report.
- Zients said Tomasini was the "point person for the president's schedule" and had conversations with Zients about stage-managing Biden and reducing the number of steps he'd need to take in public.
- Tomasini and Jill Biden's top aide, Anthony Bernal, both invoked the FiFth Amendment to the committee and declined to testify.
