President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in Thursday’s debate reportedly shocked some White House aides, who have essentially shielded him from them since taking office.
Axios Report Said, “Biden’s actions surprised many in the White House, in part because Biden’s top aides — often led by top aide Jill Biden Anthony Bernal and deputy chief of staff Annie Tommasini — took steps early in his term to effectively shut the president out.”
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“Even the White House residence staff, who provide services to the presidential family in the living quarters of the mansion, have been kept at a distance. A former residence staff member told Axios that Jill Biden was ‘very protective of the president, but Anthony is just protective of her and they often don’t let us do anything,'” the report said.
“The divide between the family and the White House staff was huge and very disconnected,” a former administration official told the outlet. “It’s not how it should or usually is, even in the Trump White House.”
Bernal, Tommasini and other aides had “easy access” to Biden’s living areas of the White House, which some White House living staff found unusual and indicative of the close personal relationships that surround Biden, according to the report.
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A former residence staffer told Axios about an incident that occurred during a White House celebration on July 4, 2021, when Biden entered the White House after spending hours under the hot sun and “the door was suddenly slammed as Biden aides prevented White House butlers and residence staff from assisting Biden.”
Aides told staff that the president was “just suffering from a little bit of heatstroke,” but the former official said palace staff felt the president’s aides were putting a wall around anything to do with his health.
Former White House deputy photographic director Chandler West appeared to criticize Biden’s aides in an Instagram post after the debate, according to Axios.
“It is time for Joe to go,” West wrote. “I know many of these people and I know how the White House operates. They will say Joe ‘has the flu’ or ‘is not feeling well,’ but privately for weeks, even months, they have all been saying, as they saw last night, that Joe is not doing as well as he did a few years ago.”
Reached by phone, West told Axios he wrote it because “it wasn’t the first bad day of the debate, and it won’t be the last.”
White House spokesman Andrew Bates denied allegations that Biden was being shielded from others by aides.
“There are people in every administration who would prefer to spend more time with the president and senior officials,” he told Axios.
“President Biden fights hard every day for families, and his determination, values and experience are driving historic results for the American people, working with a wide range of members of his team in what he believes is the most diverse White House ever,” he added.
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